A bonus mid-season pick-up for the Kangaroos last May, Camp was instrumental in their run to the grand final and had committed to a second season.

But Temora coach Jake Wooden said they couldn’t stand in his way when a golden opportunity arose to return to the Canberra league.

“The reason he came out was because Ainslie couldn’t fit him in under the player points system last year, but it’s worked out for him this year – they’ve got him a job and a house and the offer was too good to say no,” Wooden said.

“It’s a pretty big loss for us. I was looking forward to him playing a full year. But it is what it is, you can’t do too much about it.

“It just hurts at this time of year, because most players are already signed up, but we’ll see what happens I suppose.”

The Roos are in discussions with a couple of potential recruits.

But so far their signings, the returning Angus McRae (from North Wagga) and Charlie Boyton (Ainslie), are outweighed by departures.

Along with Camp’s exit, Kane Peeters is on the move to Queensland. And they were already resigned to being without classy defenders Sam Jackson and Daniel Hespe, as well as the consistent Brayden Ambler (CSU). Add to that, two players, Matt Harpley and Colby Poole, recovering from knee reconstructions.

“We’ve lost quite a few, but we’ve got some juniors coming through which will be exciting,” Wooden said.

“I think two or three of them will play a full year of senior footy if everything goes well.”

Wooden said they had a positive pre-season camp last weekend in Tumbarumba.

“We had a couple of training runs but we worked a lot on our structures just to make sure everyone’s on the same page,” Wooden said. “We might try a few different things this year and it’s good to get everyone together in the one spot to go through it.”

Temora will have their first pre-season game against Turvey Park in a month, followed by a game against Coolamon in late March, in preparation for the grand final rematch against Marrar when the Farrer League kicks off on April 14.