Temora have made the most of the bye week, seeking a clearance to sign former Tuggeranong Hawks midfielder Jake Whyte.
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The Kangaroos were keen on a mid-season addition to strengthen their midfield stocks, particularly with Tim McAuley’s availability remaining up in the air due to a potential move north for employment.
In Whyte, they hope to have found their man.
“From all reports he plays a very similar style to Tim and that’s why we chased him – for that hardness around the footy and that competitive nature,” Temora coach Jake Wooden said.
“Tim’s only played the three games and he may not be there (in the back half of the season) so we were chasing another midfielder and (Whyte’s) name popped up.
“Tim could stay, and if he does, that’s great. But if he doesn’t, we’ve sort of covered ourselves.
“We just wanted a little bit more depth in the midfield for that second half of the season.”
Whyte, who is in his mid-20s, played 14 first grade games for Tuggeranong last year, and 12 senior games in 2016.
He was intending to sit this season out but a change of scenery to play country football appealed and he could be in the Kangaroos’ colours by Saturday week.
“He was going to have the year off just because he wasn’t really enjoying his footy,” Wooden said.
“Providing everything goes well with his clearance, he’ll be playing against Coleambally… but he hasn't been playing so we don’t expect him to blow it out of the park. His fitness might be a little bit down, he said.”
Whyte will add to the Canberra flavour in Temora’s on-ball brigade, with Sam Jensen and Kieran Shea both in their third season at Nixon Park.
At the halfway point of Temora’s season, Wooden is happy with where they’re at, sitting third, having dropped just the two games to the teams above them.
“The comp’s pretty even. Obviously Marrar hasn’t dropped a game and North Wagga’s pretty strong. But they’re definitely beatable,” Wooden said.
“We haven’t played our best footy yet… I think if we can produce a four-quarter effort we’ll be hard to beat.”