The Magpies have welcomed one more Canberra recruit on board, snaring the services of former North Eastern Australian Football League (NEAFL) player Liam Lupton.

Lupton spent this year playing rugby league but had previously enjoyed success at Eastlake, as well as playing a handful of games with Canberra Demons.

The Magpies have also added Turvey Park youngster Ryan Shaw to their list.

TRYC had been in discussions with Lupton since midway through the year and co-coach Heath Russell said the Magpies were thrilled to welcome him to Victoria Park.

"He's versatile, which was appealing to us," Russell said.

"He's played wing at a high level so he's fairly classy. He'll have the ability to play through the midfield, which is where we need more depth. He can also play forward and back so we'll use the pre-season to see where he best fits but he should be able to add a fair bit to our midfield."

Lupton is friends with the Canberra footballers already at the Magpies so was happy to join them in travelling.

He joins Dean Biermann, Riley Budd, Joey Hancock, James Roberts and Noah Budd in travelling from Canberra.

Russell explained the opportunity to add another quality player to the list was too good to resist.

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"Obviously we've got six Canberra guys, which wasn't our intention, we wanted more local guys for training but we were lucky enough to get the services of a few Canberra boys last year, and they did a really good job for us," he said.

"So we looked to build on that momentum with what we've got there and add to our good group of locals that we've got."

The Magpies were big improvers in their first season under Russell and Brad Aiken, climbing to third on the ladder. He said part of the recruiting strategy was to take the next step and challenge for the flag.

"We didn't want to just make up the numbers. We want to challenge," he said.

"We took some big strides last year but often the hardest step is then up the top two so we want to try and step up.

"We've been able to add some more quality to our list which is really exciting."

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