SWFL men’s: Hayward Medal winner Jesse Crichton signs with Harvey-Brunswick-Leschenault for 2025 season

Harvey-Brunswick-Leschenault have pulled off an early recruiting coup for the 2025 South West Football League season, attracting star midfielder Jesse Crichton back to the club. The Lions announced on Sunday the classy on-baller, who spent four seasons with the club between 2018 and 2021, would be back at Brunswick Oval next season. His return means HBL’s midfield will boast a pair of Hayward Medal winners next season, with Crichton — who won the league’s highest individual honour in 2019 — set to form a tantalising combination with 2024 winner Ty Anderson. Drafted by Fremantle out of Tasmania in 2009, Crichton spent four seasons with the Dockers, playing 18 games at the top level before spending time with State league sides Werribee and East Fremantle. After joining the Lions, he instantly established himself as one of the league’s standout players, winning the Hayward Medal in his second season as part of a side which won the premiership and went through the year without a single loss. He moved to South Bunbury for the 2022 and 2023 seasons, featuring in their 2022 grand final loss and making his final appearance for the Tigers in their 2023 preliminary final defeat, before returning home to play with Scottsdale in the upstart Northern Tasmanian Football Association last year. HBL finished third on the SWFL ladder last season but were bounced out of the finals in straight sets, losing their qualifying final to Bunbury and being beaten by Donnybrook in the semifinal.