GROUP NINE
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BREATHING life into Tumbarumba's Group Nine revival, new Greens coach Simon Vanzanten has concocted a mix of star imports and local young guns to bring excitement back to the mountains.
Still hunting for former NRL star Kane Cleal to sign the book, the Greens have already secured a swag of talent to drag the cellar-dwellers up the competition ladder this season.
Leading the revival, dual Queensland Cup player of the year Aaron Sweeney and New Zealand powerhouse Doug Rewi will join forces in the forward pack along with Canberra Raiders Toyota Cup front rower, Sam Everett.
Speaking yesterday, Vanzanten said the addition of Cleal to the Greens would create the fiercest forward pack in the competition.
"The main one we're looking at now is Kane Cleal," he told The Daily Advertiser yesterday.
"At the moment he's about 80-20 about playing, and if he does play again he's assured us it'll be for us.
"After the news broke that he was interested he's had clubs all through the bush chasing him.
"He did a bit of training with us but for his own standard he was disappointed, so he's training with the Bulldogs to get himself into better shape.
"We're a long way down into negotiations at the moment and we're pretty positive."
Intent on avoiding consecutive wooden spoons, the Greens have dived deep into pre-season training with Sweeney and Rewi to join the team for the first time tonight, while Melbourne Storm recruit Luke Smith has settled in the past few weeks.
Vanzanten insists the fresh blood has already got the town buzzing for the Group Nine season.
"It's fantastic, usually we're struggling to get players to come out here but once the word of our imports got out my phone hasn't stopped ringing," he said.
"Once people heard we might go good this year it changed, it's exciting. It should be good, Aaron Sweeney and Doug are arriving in town (yesterday) so we're just organising their place and getting them all set up.
"They haven't trained with us yet, but we've been going for quite a while now and getting great numbers."
The Greens will take on the West Wyalong Knockout next month before the Group Nine and Group 20 pre-season tournament, but Vanzanten in eager to book an additional trial game to finalise his team.
"The biggest thing is having a good pre-season," he said.
"Last year we lost 10 games by less than six points, but it was hard because the coach didn't get here until the first week of the comp so there was no pre-season.
"We're just trying to give our players and new recruits a bit of a preseason and hopefully that will turn those losses around."