RIVERINA FOOTBALL LEAGUE
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THE opportunity to return to his roots was too good to pass up for Wagga Tigers' latest signing Josh Parmenter.
Parmenter, now 31, last played with the Tigers when he won the club's best and fairest medal in the under 18 competition.
He has since spent time in the Farrer League where he coached Northern Jets, and for the past three years has played in Sydney's premier division with UNSW-Eastern Suburbs Bulldogs.
He won a flag with the Bulldogs two years ago and earned himself a guernsey representing the league.
In between times he also represented Australia in handball.
Now, a decade after moving on, Parmenter will return to Robertson Oval to help the Tigers on their 2014 premiership campaign.
"I've got some really good mates there still and it was a good opportunity to play with them again," Parmenter explained.
"And perhaps the opportunity to finish where I started was pretty tempting.
"I've probably only got a couple of years left in me so I thought it would be nice to finish the career off with the old club."
Parmenter is a tough midfielder who will also spend time forward for the Tigers.
With the likes of Tom Power and Jackson Kew exiting the club during the off-season, Tigers coach Matt Rava says Parmenter will be a welcome addition to the onball brigade.
"Last year we lacked a bit of depth in the midfield and he will really help with that," Rava said.
"We want some mature bodies running through there to help out a few of the younger guys.
"We're pretty excited to get him."
Parmenter will continue to live in Sydney and travel back each week to play, while training in Sydney with the Bulldogs.
His signing marks the fifth of the year for the Tigers, joining Ben Davis, James Hodges, Mitch Hawker and Shaun Bourchier on the list of incoming players.
Rava revealed he is on the verge of snagging another midfielder in the coming weeks.
"After a bit of a slow start to the off-season, we lost a couple of guys and didn't have much coming in, our last month or so has been really good," Rava said.
"Basically we're not chasing too many, we've got some great young talent around the club and we want to make the most of that."
The Tigers have trial games lined up against Temora and Corowa later this month.
Rava also plans to use the round 1 bye on April 12 to stage an intra-club game.