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Young VFL duo land at Lathlain

Wednesday, January 24, 2018 - 2:09 PM

The Demons have added more new blood to its 2018 playing list with exciting duo Mitch Cox and Ben Giobbi both signing two year deals with the club on Monday.

The pair arrive at Perth from Melbourne Demons' VFL affiliate club, the Casey Demons, where they both played senior football in 2017.

Perth Football Manager Dale Ballantyne described 20-year-old Cox as a "quick, highly skilled forward who likes to run through the midfield" and 21-year-old Giobbi as a "solidly built left footer who's very good in and under."

"Cox is strong over head and doesn't mind kicking a goal. He will be a very good outside player for us, providing very good service to our forwards as he breaks through the midfield,” Ballantyne said.

"We're looking for Giobbi to be part of our midfield and go forward at times to bolster our forward pressure and kick a few goals.”

Cox and Giobbi arrived in Perth on Monday and will begin training with the main group on Wednesday night.

Giobbi said the two of them are looking forward to the challenge of helping bring on field success to the club.

“We want to come over here and have an impact on the club,” Giobbi said.

“Having been at Casey which is involved with the AFL being Melbourne’s affiliate, we’ve got pretty good knowledge that we can bring here to Perth.

“Obviously Perth didn’t have the best year last year so we want to help bring the club forward.”

The pair came across to Perth in December to tour the Lathlain Park facilities and meet with club officials and players.

Cox said after visiting in December, Perth felt right and was the obvious choice for the young duo.

“We heard Perth’s a very good club and that was evident when we came down here for the one training session late last year, it had a really good vibe and something that Ben and I really wanted to be involved in,” Cox said.

“We were contacted by other clubs but we found that this was the best fit for us being a young group and being able to lead.”

Cox and Giobbi join Corey Yeo, Richie Bourne (jnr) and Mitchell Lague as the club's 2018 additions, with Matthew Taylor, Callum Collard and Ben Power all returning to the club.

Trinity Aquinas 2016 and 2017 A Grade premiership player Luke Salamone is another fresh face to keep an eye on in 2018 after reports he's had a very impressive preseason to date.

The well built livewire forward's Trinity Aquinas teammate, Redmond Dobson, has also been impressive on the track this preseason.