Wanderers start the year on the right foot, plenty of improvement to come

In wet conditions at Melrose Synthetic, the Wanderers handed West Canberra 2-1 loss in their opponents first game in the league.

Relegated at the end of last year, West Canberra were always set to be a big task for the Wagga-locals, but a brace from Morris Kadzola sealed the deal.

Wanderers were the first to score and went into the half-time break up 1-0.

A quick goal from their opponents evened out the score, but it didn't take long for Kadzola to find the net again, locking in the win.

He's hoping the game is just the start of a year of improvements for the changing side.

"It was good for our first game all season, we have a new coach, new players coming in," Kadzola said.

"To get the win, that's good.

"We played a better team, but I think that was an advantage for us because we had to improve our game."

Hoping the side will continue to develop as the season progresses, Kadzola has been impressed with how far they have come this pre-season.

Impressed with the efforts of Kade Lyons, he said the youth injection has been welcomed.

Improving young players confidence will be a key factor in continued success this year he said, alongside working on transitions down the field.

"Confidence, we have plenty of youngsters, and they need confidence," Kadzola said.

"It's their first season playing there, so they can improve, they are good but we have some areas we need to improve going forward."

With round one under their belts, the team backed up for their Riverina Cup semi-final on Sunday, where they managed a win over Young.

Attention now shifts to their round two CPL game at Gissing Oval next weekend.

Hoping to secure himself another goal or two, Kadzola is hopeful a home game goal-fest could set them up with a good goal differential early in the season.