FORMER Sydney Swans footballer Jake Brown is relishing the challenge of adapting to Farrer League footy in his new role in the Marrar midfield.
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Brown made the move to Wagga earlier this year to take up a role at Marrar not only as a player, but also as a development coach at the club.
The 26-year-old landed at Marrar as a marquee recruit after having spent the last few seasons juggling time with the Swans' VFL team and enjoying a couple of premierships with AFL Sydney club UNSW-Eastern Suburbs.
Brown grew up in the Riverina and actually played Auskick footy at Marrar before heading north, where he was rookie listed to the Swans after coming through their academy.
Brown was keen on a change this season and is loving the change Marrar has brought about.
"It's great. A lot different to what it's like in Sydney," Brown said.
"There's a lot more atmosphere and there's a lot more people follow it, which is good fun. It's good fun playing in front of people who really support their own club, which is good. It's been good going to smaller towns as well.
"I'm enjoying it thoroughly. It's almost been like a freshen up.
"When you play in the same place for a while, you don't get complacent but you can get stuck in a rut so it's good to play somewhere new, somewhere fresh and experience something new and a completely different atmosphere."
Not only has Farrer League football taken some adjusting to for Brown, he has also made the move into the midfield on top of that after playing predominantly across half-back in recent years.
It's a challenge he's enjoying.
"Every league no matter where you play is always going to be a different brand of footy. You can even notice that within leagues, it's been good though, the bash and crash style of this league. I like it. It's good fun," Brown said.
"I haven't played in the midfield since I was much younger. It's good to get back in there and good to learn the craft again, especially under a new ruckman and things like that.
"Every midfield's different so it's good learning a new set of skills, which is handy."
Brown has been a big part of Marrar's strong start to the Farrer League season.
They opened with a big win over Temora, then coughed up a big lead when falling to Northern Jets by seven points. The Bombers then bounced back with a 12-point win over East Wagga-Kooringal last Saturday.
Brown said he, like the Bombers, are learning on the go.
"Me personally, I'm adapting to a whole new team and new structure and it would be similar the other way as well with a few new players coming in," he said.
"We're just learning something new each week and just trying to improve on all that.
"Round one was good, it was a good start to the year and round two, we weren't stoked with how we went but then we fixed it up round three.
"We had a hard-fought game against East Wagga, who were very good and did what we did in round two and kicked a few too many behinds. They probably had the run of the footy for a lot of the game and just didn't quite finish it off, which was good for us. We were just lucky enough that when we did have our chances, we took them.
"It's been a bit up and down but we're just taking it week by week and learning each week."
The Bombers face another tough test when they host undefeated reigning premiers The Rock-Yerong Creek for the ANZAC Challenge at Langtry Oval on Saturday.
It will be Brown's first experience of the ANZAC Challenge and one he is looking forward to.
"Definitely looking forward to it. I haven't really experienced it before," he said.
"There was one in Sydney but it didn't involve the team I played for.
"It will be good, a few of the boys have spoken about how good of a day it is. Usually it's a good quality game of football as well so I'm looking forward to it."
Brown hasn't seen TRYC in action but has some idea what to expect.
"I've heard they're the benchmark of the comp so it's going to be a very tough, hard-fought, game," he said.
"We knew last week was going to be tough and I think this week is going to be even tougher.
"At the start of the season to play the best teams, with how the draw's worked out for us, the Jets, East Wagga, Temora and The Rock, we're going to have played most of the top teams in the first six rounds, which is good."