Bonner the latest ex-Saint to join Cheltenham

Yet another ex-Saint is on his way to Jack Barker Oval.

Former Port Adelaide and St Kilda defender Riley Bonner has linked Southern league power Cheltenham as his home club.

Bonner, 27, will play for the Casey Demons in the VFL — and on the bye rounds he’ll line-up with the Rosellas.

The booming left-footer played 112 AFL games in nine seasons at Alberton and Moorabbin.

He has secured a job managing Melbourne’s academies – father-son and daughter as well as the Next Generation – while also coaching Casey’s backline.

Bonner joins fellow ex-Saints Jack Lonie and Sam Dunell at Cheltenham but it was another star Rosella, Luke Verma, who convinced him to make JBO home.

“My partner has got a good job in Melbourne so we decided to stay (over returning home to South Australia) and I know a few boys down at Chelt and have a really good mate there in Luke Verma,” Bonner said.

Riley Bonner played his first 93 AFL games at Port Adelaide. Picture: Sarah Reed

“As soon as my football was done he (Verma) was pretty keen to play together, I love the local footy scene, the banter on and off the field.

“When I get to go down and put on the colours, I will be keen to run out with a good mate, I know a few down there and they’ve been a welcoming club.”

Bonner “wouldn’t say no” to an AFL lifeline but said he was content with his trajectory down the coaching and development path.

“I think this role is a great stepping stone coming out of the AFL system, I am really enjoying it at the moment,” he said.

“It’s sort of one you have to move pretty fluidly in, coaching at the elite level is pretty hard to get into.

“I’ve just got to do the work, do the time, coach my own way and I think that will put you in the right stead to move forward.

“I think a development coach at an AFL club has always enticed me but I have always liked the player welfare roles, the PDMs, too.

“They’re the two I have I guess got my eye on, being pretty young and raw outside of AFL, it’s something I have to get used to, coaching guys older or you’ve played with or against.”

The back-to-back Southern league Division 1 premier has added another ex-Saint. Picture: Andrew Batsch

Bonner played three AFL finals but a premiership eluded him.

He has won just two flags in his career, one at the Goodwood Saints when he was 12 and another at West Adelaide in the under-18s.

Bonner hopes the Demons and Rosellas, who have been no strangers to success in recent years, can add to his tally.

“I think with Casey if the AFL team stays fit there’s always a good bunch of players who come back and play, that’ll only make us better,” he said.

“With Chelt, looking for a three-peat now, Luke (Verma) was very much in my ear saying ‘come be a part of this’.

“I have met some good people there (Cheltenham) so it was an easy decision in the end.”

Originally published as Former Port Adelaide and St Kilda defender Riley Bonner has selected his suburban home