Eight weeks before a ball is kicked in anger, Marrar coach Shane Lenon has declared North Wagga the ‘obvious’ pre-season favourites in the Farrer League.
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But Lenon simultaneously had a warning for their rivals, in a clear indication of the Bombers’ desire to defend their premiership.
“We will have to improve, don’t worry,” Lenon said. “It’s going to be a close comp again.
”North Wagga, obviously they’ll be odds-on favourites at this stage. There’s a couple of blokes at my work who are Saints men and who reckon they’re going well. They reckon we’re all playing for second.
“But I think you play for the cup in September, not February.”
The Saints are set to benefit from strong recruiting, with some 10 new faces heading to the club, including seasoned Riverina League performers, Luke Walsh, James Morris, Lachie Steward.
North Wagga president Mick Barnes knows their signings have been the talk of the off-season and is “amused” by the interest.
But he has a clear message for those querying whether they’ll be in danger of hitting the new $100,000 salary cap ceiling, or maxing out under the player points system.
“Surprisingly, we’re well under,” Barnes said.
“We’ll probably spend less than last year.
“I’ve been in recruiting at the club for 10 years and it’s the first time we’ve had quality players knocking on the door wanting to play. We didn’t go chasing all our players, it just sort of snowballed. When things are going alright at your club, people want to be a part of it.
“We’ve crunched the numbers on the points too and we’ll be under.”
The Saints get the benefit of key players, including Lachie Highfield, Daniel Jordan and Ned Mortimer, being in the third year at the club, and coach Kirk Hamblin even longer.
Meanwhile, the club’s hoping to continue to grow its strong junior base, with a call to be made by the end of the month on whether they’ll field two under 17 teams this year.
“We’re just finalising numbers and it’s about 50-50 which direction we’ll go,” Barnes said.
“We’ve already got the ball rolling, with a clash strip for when they play each other.
“We just want to make sure we can fulfil our commitments if we field two sides. We probably need to find three or four more players and that puts us at the point that we’ll have to run with two.”
North Wagga open their season at home to Coleambally, while Marrar kick off with a grand final rematch against Temora. And it's not until round nine that the Bombers and Saints will come face to face.
