Coleambally have upped the ante in their bid to return as a serious Farrer League contender, announcing five more new faces for their 2019 campaign.
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The Blues will bring three more players out of Darwin, including exciting Palmerston footballer Raven Marika.
The talented midfielder/forward will move to Coleambally along with Jack Brown and Adrian McAdam. They join McAdam's brother Charlie, who was among the club's earlier off-season signings.
"We are excited. It's a bit of an unknown because we haven’t seen them play, but we’re excited," Coleambally co-coach Mitch Carroll said.
"He’s played a lot of representative footy. He’s a bit taller, still light. And there's big raps on him.
"We always knew we had Charlie but it was unknown if we’d get others. He's been our Darwin contact and been able to help chase players instead of guessing."
Carroll said another NT contact also held a high opinion of Marika, who was best-on-ground at the MCG in a 2017 Rio Tinto Cup, a curtain raiser to the Dreamtime at the G game.
Brown, a small forward capable of sneaking goals, has primarily been playing division one with Southern Districts in the Northern Territory Football League.
Charlie McAdam has been a regular in Southern Districts' premier league team while Adrian is also at the Crocs, in division one. Carroll said he's a tall defender who he expects will slot into their backline once he finds his feet after more than a year away from football.
The Blues have also uncovered a key forward with former Cairns-based footballer Dwayne Weetra linking with the club.
"He's a full-forward, a bigger fella," Carroll said. "He's smooth-looking on the track and his skills look really good. We're not going to knock someone like that back."
Weetra had been playing with Manunda in Cairns, primarily in reserves, but has moved to Griffith for work.
Rounding out the five, former Charles Sturt University midfielder, Luke Schulz, will return to the Farrer League after also moving to the area for work.
"Luke was at CSU then he played union last year. So he's been away from AFL for a year but going off his training, he'll be handy, He'll probably be on-ball or up forward," Carroll said.
It adds up to a promising preparation for Coleambally who had started their recruitment campaign with a bang by bringing Curtis Steele to the club along with Luke Hillier as co-coach.
Carroll said it's generated a good atmosphere at the club which is keen to climb a long way off the bottom after last year's wooden spoon finish.
"It’s going to be good because the Darwin boys are all going to be living in Coly. The community’s pretty excited about them being in the town," he said.
"With a couple of early good signings,and then topping off with the other boys, it’s all pretty positive.
"Having a few new faces around the club, there'll be a bit more pressure on and the local blokes have stepped up, especially our young guys like Chris Hayes."
The Darwin quartet will move to Coleambally in March, likely after the club's one practice match against Lockhart in four weeks.
The Blues will begin their season away to East Wagga-Kooringal on April 6.
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