Wagga Tigers recruit Tom Keogh admits he is feeling a few nerves as he prepares to face Mangoplah-Cookardinia United-Eastlakes for the first time on Saturday.
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Keogh made the biggest move of the AFL Riverina off-season when he left the Goannas to join fierce rival, Wagga Tigers.
It was a family decision, following his younger brother Will to Tigers to play alongside cousins Bailey Wileman and Reid Gordon, who moved here from interstate to play with them.
While Will is a Tigers junior and returned home, it was a much more difficult decision for Tom, who played about 120 games for the Goannas.
He had originally decided to stay at MCUE and had not missed a beat at pre-season training, before changing his mind and switching to Tigers in February.
"I'm a little bit nervous," Tom admitted this week.
"Nothing too sinister. I've still got some of my best mates at Mango. It will be weird playing against them but I'm sure it will be fine after we start the game.
"A few of the boys are always been saying I'll have to wear a headgear...but I'm only worried about Dicko (Andrew Dickins), as long as I stay out of his way I'll be pretty good."
Keogh, 24, enjoyed his best season to date last year at MCUE, finishing second in the Riverina League's Most Valuable Player award.
He has shown he will be a valuable asset to Tigers over the opening two rounds, starting in the midfield and also spending time in attack and defence.
While it's only early, Keogh has enjoyed the move.
"It's been really good. There's a lot of good blokes there and a lot of really good young fellas," he said.
"It's been unreal to play with my two cousins. We've got a heap of family coming up this week, from all corners of the country...so we better win."
Keogh said it has taken a little bit of time to find his feet in a new team, but expects both he and Tigers to get better as the year goes on.
"There's been a bit of that, the whole side is pretty new really so it will take a little while to click properly," he said.
"It's like any team sport, it takes a little while to figure out what your teammates strengths and weaknesses are but it's been pretty refreshing really, mentally, a change of scenery."
Tigers are undefeated after two rounds. They belted Leeton-Whitton by 90 points to start the year, before getting over Turvey Park by 14 points last week.
MCUE, meantime, lost to Turvey Park by two points in the opening round and will be desperate to get four points on the board.
Keogh expects a physical encounter.
"I think they will try and make it a really hard-fought game," he said.
"When I was at Mango, it was all about trying to win the contested ball."
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