ROUND one brought positive vibes for both of the Central Murray Football Netball League’s game of the week teams tomorrow.
Tooleybuc Manangatang and Swan Hill have both had positive summers recruiting and enjoyed the fruits of their labour in round one against Nyah Nyah West and Koondrook Barham respectively.
Saints coach Daryl Powell said their recruiting started midway through last year big accident and landed them a new ruckman from their existing list.
“We’re very fortunate that we’ve got Brenton Chislett he did a lot of work on his own while Ryan O’Sullivan was away for work,” he said.
“Ryan was working in Katherine but wanted to come back when he could and he paid his own way.
“But he only could for four or five games and what came out of it was that we found a ruckman that we didn’t know we had in Brenton.
“Now all of a sudden both of them are playing ruck,” Powell said.
The Saints’ recruiting was also bolstered when a former local returned unexpectedly.
“Joel Cullen is back, he played in our last premiership in 2007 and he’s come back to work on his dad’s farm,” Powell said.
“We didn’t even know he was coming.”
The 195cm key position player will probably play centre half back but can also help out in ruck if required.
Powell said the club was still forming its own expectations of its season.
“All we’re doing at the moment is planning for Swan Hill to see how far along we are,” he said.
“We were impressed with Nyah — they’ve got some really good kids and at times probably they outplayed us. Swan Hill will also be hard.”
Swans coach Xavier Moloney said he was pleased with his side’s round one performance.
“Obviously we had a few new players so it was good to get off to a good start,” he said.
Most of Swan Hill’s recruits adjusted pretty quickly, most notably Toby Thoolen, Josh Templeton and Tim Ruffles.
“They got through the game unscathed which was pleasing,” Moloney said.
It’s a different story for Grant Tasca and Adam Manning though, with Tasca almost certain to sit out one week with a lower leg injury while Manning remained under an unspecified injury cloud ahead of a fitness test scheduled for last night.
Moloney said the Swans were still adjusting to a game plan that was slightly altered over the summer.
“We’re still working on it but everyone has taken on board pretty well,” he said.
TIP: Tooleybuc Manangatang by 3 points.
