Temora’s premiership aspirations have been given a timely boost with the return of talented footballer Jack Irvine for the second half of the season.
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The Kangaroos lodged a clearance for Irvine to return home on Saturday, beating the June 30 clearance deadline by a matter of hours.
The news only gets better for Temora with Tim McAuley also set to finish the season at Nixon Park.
McAuley’s availability for the entire season had been unclear and was made even more murky by a clearance on Saturday to head back to South Mildura.
But the clearance has since been cancelled and he has come to an agreement with Temora to finish the season with the Kangaroos.
Temora coach Jake Wooden is thrilled with the double play.
“It’s massive,” Wooden said.
“Jack hasn’t played the last couple of years and it’s his first year back. He’ll add a lot to our team.
“You put him and Tim in our midfield with the Canberra boys and holy hell, it adds some X-factor that we’ve been missing.”
Irvine, 20, was one of the region’s brightest prospects before injury struck.
He played in Temora’s 2014 Farrer League premiership but has hardly been able to string games together since due to a long list of injuries.
He spent time on VFL club Werribee’s list and played the first half of this season at Essendon and District League club Maribyrnong Park.
Wooden said both will be needed after Canberra recruit Jake Whyte only lasted one game.
“We had sort of pencilled in Jake Whyte but he played his first and last game for us when he done his wrist,” he said.
“Tim will play for us once his shoulder is right, which is massive, because we missed him on the weekend.”
Temora suffered their third defeat of the season last Saturday when going down to Marrar by 27 points at Nixon Park.
The Kangaroos hope to have ruckman Anthony Atkins, McAuley, Irvine and defender Liam Pattison back for later in the year.
“We got belted in the middle,” Wooden said.
“It’s frustrating we haven’t beat Marrar and North Wagga but at the end of the year, as long as you finish top three and get the double chance, anything’s possible.”
Irvine could return to line-up for Temora as soon as Saturday when they take on sixth-placed Northern Jets at Ariah Park.
Wooden said they have a crucial period coming up.
“Last year the Jets beat us by a point out there,” he said.
“Then we have CSU, who are a real dark horse.”
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