{"id":265647,"date":"2025-11-06T03:16:09","date_gmt":"2025-11-06T03:16:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/265647\/"},"modified":"2025-11-06T03:16:09","modified_gmt":"2025-11-06T03:16:09","slug":"former-hawk-signs-with-vfl-club-afl-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/265647\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Hawk signs with VFL club – AFL News"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a><\/p>\n

Former Hawthorn player Connor Downie<\/a> has signed with VFL club Port Melbourne for the 2026 season.<\/p>\n

Downie was at the Hawks for two years after he was drafted with Pick 35 in the 2020 National Draft.<\/p>\n

He featured in two AFL<\/a> games in his maiden campaign, albeit one as the medical sub in Round 1 against Essendon. Downie later played against the Western Bulldogs<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Following his time in the brown and gold, Downie made the switch to North Melbourne, joining their VFL outfit for the 2023 season.<\/p>\n

Since, he has split his time between the Kangaroos and Eastern Football League (EFL) clubs Vermont and East Ringwood, with the latter his local club in 2025.<\/p>\n

But now the Borough are excited for what Downie can produce in their colours.<\/p>\n

“Get up and about, Borough fans, as we welcome Connor Downie<\/a> to Port Melbourne in 2026!” the statement said.<\/p>\n

“A player with serious skill on the outside, elite running patterns, outstanding endurance, and a booming left foot that can turn a game in an instant.<\/p>\n

“Exciting times ahead, welcome, Connor!”<\/p>\n

VFL head coach Brendan McCartney and VFL Director of Coaching James Hird<\/a> will remain at the club in 2026.<\/p>\n

Essendon’s Dyson Heppell<\/a> will continue his journey as a Port Melbourne player, likewise for ex-Bulldog Charlie Clarke<\/a> and Hird’s son, Tom.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Hawthorn player Connor Downie has signed with VFL club Port Melbourne for the 2026 season. Downie was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":265648,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-265647","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-afl","8":"tag-afl","9":"tag-au","10":"tag-australia","11":"tag-australian-football-league","12":"tag-australianfootballleague","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265647","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=265647"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265647\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/265648"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=265647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=265647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=265647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}