COOLAMON co-coach Jake Barrett declared himself a certain starter for round one despite an injury scare in the Hoppers final trial game.
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Barrett left the field early in the third quarter of Coolamon's win over East Wagga-Kooringal at Gumly Oval on Wednesday night with a sore groin.
But the former GWS Giants and Brisbane Lions footballer maintained it was purely for precautionary reasons and is confident he will be right to face Turvey Park in round one.
"I'm alright. I was just being cautious," Barrett said.
"It was our last trial game and I was a bit sore so I thought I'd just come off. I didn't want to risk it before round one."
"I definitely don't think it was anything serious."
The Hoppers ran out winners by about 13 goals against the undermanned Hawks.
Among those to impress were new recruit Jeremy Sykes, Hayden Bradley, Matt McGowan and BJ Glyde.
"It was good," Barrett said.
"East Wagga were missing a few players unfortunately but I was happy with the hit out. It was good to have a full side out there. We were still missing a handful but it was good to play with close to a full-strength side and the boys played well."
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Among those to come into the Coolamon team for round one, that missed Wednesday night, are Jerry Maslin, Jamie Maddox, Max Hillier, Matt Harpley and Bayden Leary.
Barrett admits he and fellow co-coach Mark Carroll are going to have some selection headaches.
"It's a good problem to have," he said.
"There is definitely going to be six to eight players unfortunate, or right on the end. It's good for reserves and shows we've got good depth."
The win over the Hawks rounded out a busy pre-season for Coolamon, who also enjoyed trials against Gungahlin and St George.
It began with a tight loss to St George and finished with comfortable wins over the Jets and Hawks.
"I think we should be happy with our prep," Barrett said.
"We've had three solid trial games now and we've pulled up good. Touch wood between now and round one but we've been really fortunate that no one has done anything serious, or minor, which has us in a pretty good position ahead of round one.
"We'll have Easter to freshen up and then get ready for round one."
A side note out of Wednesday's trial was the big crowd that turned out to Gumly Oval for some mid-week football action.
With both clubs not playing last year due to COVID-19, Barrett believes the signs are good heading into the 2021 season.
"Everyone is keen just to get back to a normal season, I think, which is great," he said.
"Everyone is enjoying having footy back."
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