McCabe was among a quartet of Barellan signings in 2017 and stayed for two seasons. He kicked 39 goals in 30 games and was in their best in more than half of his appearances.

Coach Alex Lawder said they're yet to finalise what games McCabe can fit in around other commitments but is "stoked to have him on board" and expects he'll play at least half their games.

"He filled in for us in the Googong practice match in Canberra because we didn't have everyone available," Lawder said.

"He's got two young kids and has been contemplating stepping away from football. But he made a few promises to guys at Barellan that he'd go back there one day and I think after filling in in that practice match, a few guys reminded him of that promise."

Lawder said the "natural footballer" is likely to take on a utility role and play where required on any given day.

"We've discussed multiple things. I'd love to have his raking left foot coming out of the middle hitting up our forwards," he said.

"But at the same time, he's floated pinch-hitting in the ruck. Centre-half-forward is one of the hardest positions and having an experienced guy to play that position might be handy. But he's also played a lot of football down back."

He joins Ben Cleaver, Marcus Lawrence, Josh Britfliff, Michael Lovett and Lawder in signing on for this season.

The Two Blues had a win against Googong and a narrow loss to Narrandera in their second practice game, before Easter.

"We were just that little bit off for the first half," Lawder said.

"It wasn't really clicking for us - handballs behind guys, missed kicks. It would've been easy to drop our heads but after half-time, we turned it around. We simplified everything and focussed on our key areas and we sort of controlled the game from then.

"So it was very positive, turning it around."

Lawder said the Two Blues went down narrowly, partly due to missed opportunities.

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