The Roos will welcome overseas recruit Mitchell Wagstaff and welcome back Arthur Godsal from overseas.
Recruitment of the pair has been described as “a great effort” of the club and committee by new coach Jack Thomas.
“We’re very lucky to have these talented lads and can’t wait to see them in action,” Thomas told The Free Press.
Wagstaff is from Derby, England and plays for Spondon in the Derbyshire Premier League. He also plays for first class club Derbyshire and just received his first professional contract this week after being in their academy for the last three years.
“Mitch had a very successful season over the English summer, signing his pro contract but also represented the Young Lions (England under 19s) team against Sri Lanka under 19s,” Thomas said.
“Mitch is really excited for his season with Corowa to progress his cricket and test his skills in a different environment, conditions and climate but also to develop some life skills off the field.”
Wagstaff trained with the club for the first time last Saturday at Ball Park, was impressed with the ground and club facilities and is looking forward to his first game at Ball Park.
“Corowa’s ground and facility are very nice. I have been training at the ground using the artificial nets which are of very high standards and get out of them what you need,” he said.
He arrived at Melbourne Airport last Thursday, had his first ‘Parmi’ for lunch upon arriving in Albury and then it was straight into the nets at the cricket centre in Wodonga. He’ll be living with club president Paul Lavis and the family out of Corowa.
“I’m very grateful to them and looking to spend some time out on the farm,” Wagstaff said.
The coach said pre season has been going well.
“We’ve had good numbers considering the footy season was overlapping and the thirds going deep into finals, a shame they couldn’t quite get over the line but it was a great effort by them and seeing the community get around them,” Thomas said.
“Hopefully it’ll be the same with the cricket. Now that the footy season has finished we’re getting a few more numbers which is great and we had our first outdoor session last Saturday at Ball Park.
“Over the winter we’ve been training once a fortnight working on a lot of skill based drills, hitting a lot of balls!”
The Roos have a few players going to university or working out of town and will be unavailable for a few games. “But they will play when they’re back in town and we’ll be really grateful to them in making the effort to get back,” Thomas said.
“In the games they’re away it’ll create opportunities for some of the younger lads coming through the ranks.”
