North Wagga's quest for back-to-back Farrer League flags has been boosted by the return of a gun junior and two experienced recruits.
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Kane Flack will return to North Wagga full-time this year after a brief foray into the Ovens and Murray League, while the Saints have also signed Milawa's Matt Walsh and Chiltern's Nathan Woods.
Flack was restricted to four first grade games with Albury Tigers last season as the club struggled with player points system issues so has decided to return home to McPherson Oval.
North Wagga coach Cayden Winter was thrilled to welcome the trio on board.
"We're going well. I'm super happy just to add a few more solid players to our team because it's probably what we were lacking, a little bit of depth, last year," Winter said.
North Wagga finished in fourth position at the end of last year's home and away season before COVID put a line through the finals series.
They remain the reigning premiers from 2019, given the Farrer League had 2020 off due to COVID as well.
Flack was a member of North Wagga's drought-breaking 2019 premiership, with his silky skills and pace a feature off half-back.
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Winter now expects Flack to return as a fully-fledged midfielder.
"I see him being a regular on-baller," Winter said.
"Obviously he went to Albury to do his thing and the points system kind of stuffed him around so he's back home this year, which is massive for us."
Woods is not a completely new face at North Wagga. He crossed over from Murray Magpies last season but work commitments restricted him to one reserve grade game.
Walsh arrives with plenty of experience from country Victoria.
"Matt is an older bloke but he's got a pretty good footy resume. He coached a few clubs and will give us a bit of experience," Winter said.
"He's a midfielder-forward. He's a good size and obviously with his experience, he's going to help us out a fair bit because that's what we're lacking a little bit of.
"Nathan will play the same role. He was at Chiltern and played some good footy in some big finals. He's a nuggety on-baller and we're probably lacking a bit of size too. Last year that's what we were lacking against some of the bigger on-ball brigades, like the Jets, we got put through our paces a little bit against those bigger bodies."
The return of Flack, plus the arrival of Walsh and Woods, join Matt Parks and Isaac Crouch as recruits at North Wagga this year. Key forward Daniel Jordan is the only loss to date.
The Saints will begin training three nights a week from next week in preparation for the season. They have the one trial game pencilled in so far, against Turvey Park on March 19.
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