Rainbird reluctant Roo

Gun midfielder well past initial unease at new club

PULLING on a Clarence top for the first time after spending nine years disliking the red and white didn’t come easy for new Roo Mitch Rainbird.

However, it hasn’t taken long for the club’s boom signing to quickly find his feet in his new environment.

In a move which is likely to add increased spice to the bitter Clarence-Glenorchy rivalry, Rainbird has packed his bags at KGV after 78 senior TSL appearances for a move across the river. Despite flourishing in 2020 and transforming himself into one of the competition’s premier midfielders, the 24-year-old felt he needed a change of scenery to take his game to another level.

“I’ve been there nine years and just sort of decided that I probably needed a fresh start at a new club,” Rainbird said of the shock defection.

“I think it was just being stuck in the same four walls all the time.

“They were pretty good about it. I suppose, leaving the club and joining a rival club is probably not ideal, but he [Pies coach Paul Kennedy] took it pretty well.

“I feel like I’ve slotted in pretty well, all the boys have been welcoming. It feels weird [putting on the Roos jumper], but I’ll get used to it.”

Rainbird is not the only big name move this off-season to the Roos, who have also snapped up former Melbourne and North Hobart key forward Colin Garland and are negotiating a transfer for upand-coming Demon forward Jake Steele.

Although it might ruffle the feathers of rival clubs, Clarence coach Jeromey Webberley makes no apologies, especially when players of the calibre of Rainbird approach him.

“I think it’s part and parcel of the game, isn’t it, and I think this is going to happen more and more. It is what it is,” Webberley said.

“I think all coaches are mates, we get on very well and we communicate all the time, but the reality is that I’m here to make the Clarence footy club as good as I can and they’re doing their job to make their clubs as good as they can.

“We have to do it every year with juniors that are out of zone and those types of things, so these types of things happen all the time. Are they generally as high-profile as what Mitch is? Probably not.

“Also, I think limited talent, limited A-grade talent [in Tasmania is a factor]. And I don’t mean that to be disrespectful, but it’s hard to get players from the lower levels to come up and commit to your club for long periods of time. “