Ash Bolt
A former Grovedale footballer will have the chance to live his dream after signing with the Gold Coast Suns for the upcoming season.
The club announced Monday James Tsitas had won the last place on the club’s list for the 2022 AFL season, after he spent the summer training with the club.
He has signed as a rookie and fills the list spot left by Hugh Greenwood’s surprise decision to leave the club for North Melbourne as a free agent.
He had been competing with former Collingwood and St Kilda midfielder Nathan Freeman for the list spot.
Gold Coast Suns player talent and strategy general manager Craig Cameron said Tsitas was a good fit for the club.
“We’re thrilled to be able to welcome James to the Suns, he’s worked relentlessly on his game over a number of years and now gets his opportunity at the highest level,” Cameron said.
“Suns fans will love the way he goes about his football in a tough, competitive way, he has a great attitude and will really complement our midfield group.”
The 26-year-old midfielder had been training with the Suns for the past month and officially joined his teammates this week.
He spent the 2021 season playing for Woodville-West Torrens in the SANFL, where he won the Magarey Medal as the league’s best and fairest and the 2021 premiership.
Tsitas played his junior football with Grovedale and the Geelong Falcons but went undrafted in 2013.
He then played in the VFL for North Ballarat and Geelong, where he also captained, from 2014 to 2019 before returning to Grovedale for one season.
He had originally intended to remain in the VFL with Williamstown in 2020, but after COVID-19 impacted the season, he headed to Woodville-West Torrens, where he became one of the SANFL’s premier midfielders last year.
