Stening, 18, has long been regarded as one of the Riverina's brightest young prospects, and will put all his efforts into helping the Demons take the next step in the Riverina League.

The key forward will bypass the Greater Western Sydney Academy program and make himself available for all Demons games in order to get continuity in his performance.

Stening has recently begun a AFL NSW/ACT Young Leaders Program, in conjunction with AFL SportsReady, and also hopes to lead from the front at Crossroads Oval.

Last year Collingullie-Glenfield Park built a game plan around pressure and physicality, which proved successful in the back end.

They have recruited well with Steve Jolliffe, Brad McMillian and Matt Klemke also returning to the fold.

"He (Clifford) looks like a really good player, he was at training the other day and was marking everything," Stening said.

"He's got a really good leap on him. Hopefully we can play well together and get some chemistry.

"We'll see what Pezz (co-coach Nick Perryman) does, we're both pretty happy either going up the ground or playing in the goal square.

"I'll probably go up the ground a bit more and he'll be in the goal square, but we'll switch it up a bit and see what happens."

Stening played alongside Perryman at Osborne, where he was part of their 2019 Hume League premiership. They were favoured to repeat the dose last year before the season was cancelled.

"He called me and told me everything about Gullie and that's what drew me to it. Just the culture of the place, all the people there and it seemed like a family club," Stening said.

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"The consistency of the league (compared to Hume League) and the smaller gap between the top and bottom sides (was an attraction). You know you're going to get a good contest every week."

Stening is content to bide his time with a year in Wagga before potentially testing himself insterstate.

"I'm having a gap year in Wagga, then maybe go interstate and try and test myself once I get a bit older and stronger.

"I'm having year off the Academy. I'll just play at Gullie to have a full year without any interruptions, as I missed a lot of games with Osborne.

"The position I play as a key forward, over time you have to put on some weight and hold your own against the bigger key defenders.

"I definitely have to put on a few kilos if I want to go to Melbourne or somewhere like that."

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