FORMER Saint Justin Koschitzke is set to play for Lavington in the Ovens and Murray League in 2014.
 
The 31-year-old has agreed to play at least 10 games with the club, joining several long-time friends who are involved at Lavington.
 
He is best mates with Lavington captain Kade Stevens and is well known to several people involved in the Panthers.
 
"All the ties were hard to go past," Koschitzke told The Border Mail.
 
He will be working in Melbourne but hopes to play between 10-12 games and also return to Brocklesby - where he grew up - as often as he can.
 
Lavington president Peter Barwick said there was a bit of a buzz around the place when news came through that Koschitzke had agreed to play with them in 2014.
 
"We have a playing list of 18-22 year-olds and I'm sure he'll be a great person for them to have around and learn off," Barwick told AFL.com.au.
 
Lavington lost this year's preliminary final by one point to Albury and Barwick joked that they have been lacking a key forward for a while.
 
Now they have Koschitzke, who kicked 247 goals in his 200 AFL games.
 
Koschitzke told AFL.com.au on Grand Final day he was keen to play some local football, with his body not quite up to the demands of AFL football.
 
He also said there was a chance he might play a one-off game in the Northern Territory for St Marys alongside former Saints' teammates Xavier Clarke and Raphael Clarke.