Talented teenage wicketkeeper-batsman Josh Staines and the club’s player of the year from last season Jake Hindmarsh have both moved on.

Staines has joined Gordon in Sydney’s grade competition, while Hindmarsh was a surprise departure this week after signing with Cricket Albury-Wodonga club Albury.

The Bulldogs have welcomed wicketkeeper-batsman Beau Wright on board through the Army, while a number of the club’s promising juniors will push for positions.

Neil Morton will again coach Wagga RSL and is confident the Bulldogs will be competitive again despite a number of players being unavailable early in the season.

“We’ll have enough for two teams this weekend but we would have a pretty handy side not playing,” Morton said.

“If they were available, we would have a lot stronger side but that’s not begrudging the guys that we’ve picked. 

“We’ve still got the backbone of side from last year for this week.

“It’s definitely only early days. You’re not going to win the grand final this week but you can certainly set your season up well in these Twenty20s by getting a couple of wins.”

Morton is looking forward to giving an opportunity to the club’s next generation.

“You don’t want to have these good kids that play their juniors then come to seniors and don’t get an opportunity because you have other guys come in from outside the club and take their spot,” he said.

“It’s good to give them a go.”

James Richards will captain Wagga RSL again this season but is unavailable for Saturday’s season opener against Lake Albert at Wagga Cricket Ground.

Morton will play, while experienced cricketers Nick Grant, Tim Cameron and Sam Perry will also feature in the Bulldogs line-up.

Morton said the big focus will be on scoring runs.

“It’s the same as previous seasons, our bowling, even without Jake, is probably going to be our strength,” he said.

“It will be up to our batsmen to put runs on the board and that’s the same as we’ve been saying for the last few seasons.

“It would be good to pick up where we finished last season. Things haven’t panned out how we hoped leading up to the season but we’ll have 11 out there doing their best and you never know what can happen.”

Morton expects Lake Albert to be tough opposition on Saturday.

“They’ll be strong,” he said.

“Obviously with Kurt (Robertson) leading them and Alex Smeeth back, they’ll be pretty strong. I’d say they will be up there again.”

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