THE prospect of a new and exciting challenge has lured Warrnambool defender Liam Hoy away from Reid Oval with the 19-year-old heading north to Noosa next month to join the Tigers.
His cousin, former South Warrnambool, Geelong, Melbourne and Brisbane Lions star Brent Moloney, is a senior player and Junior Development Officer at Noosa.
Liam told the Warrnambool Standard newspaper … “My cousin was up in Noosa playing footy and he was keeping an eye on me down here.”
The chance to move to Noosa, where he hopes to continue working as a concreter, proved too tempting to pass up for Hoy, who was a member of the Warrnambool Blues’ 2012 and 2013 premiership sides. “I’m really looking forward to the trip – I’m not sure whether it will be long-term or short-term,” he said. “Just while I’m young, it’s a different lifestyle – a change of lifestyle, a change of club, meet new people. I’m just looking forward to a good adventure up there.”
Hoy has been impressed by his first interactions with new Noosa coach Sam Faure, who was originally from Portland.
He said he expects to be used in a halfback/midfield role, but admitted the warmer Queensland weather would take some getting used to. “It’s going to be fairly warm – I’ll adapt to the heat, but it might take a couple of weeks ,” Hoy said.
“The quality of the league is a lot stronger than people give it credit for. Just through training, you notice it’s a lot quicker in terms of how they want to play. Sam has got a good vision of where he wants to take the club. The respect he has got already from the group, and from what I’ve seen, I want to be coached by him.”
Hoy has not ruled out a return to Reid Oval in future, saying it was a possibility after his stint in Queensland. “Once a Blue, always a Blue,” he said.
“All my best mates are at Warrnambool, and obviously we’ve had success the last seven years – especially the last four years for me. It was a lot harder leaving the footy club than leaving Warrnambool itself. But on the flip side, I’m really looking forward to getting out of my comfort zone and meeting some new people.”
Warrnambool coach John Cook said Hoy had the support of the Blues behind him. As a football club, we wish him all the best,” Cook said. “We hope he has a really good season and comes back to Warrnambool down the track.”
Liam has told us that he is looking forward to a successful 2016 with the Tigers and was blown away by how welcoming the club was when he visited Noosa earlier this month.
Last Modified on 05/04/2016 08:33