Old Boys will be chasing a fifth straight premiership but have lost some bowling arsenal.

“We’ve lost a few bowlers,” skipper Ben Middlebrook said rattling off the likes of Will Gell, Josh Smith, Jack Richards and Chris Coulton.

“We’ll be a different bowling attack. And we haven’t got Aaron (Hazlewood) for the first couple of weeks with work.”

He’ll be looking to Mitch Swain for one to step up and play a more prominent role with the ball. 

Pat Bryant will also get the opportunity to play alongside sons Dan and Matt.

“Matt was probably our standout bowler in the trial we played against Newcastle West,” Middlebrook said.

They’ve also got teenager James Austin stepping up from second grade and Troy Sands coming over from Gunnedah.

On the batting front there is a bit more stability and Middlebrook conceded there will be a lot more onus on the batsmen.

“We’re going to have to step up and help out the bowlers and put runs on the board,” he said.

Last year’s runners-up will again boast one of the best pace attacks in the competition with Angus McNeill, Tom O’Neill and Troy Osborne forming a formidable opening trio.

With Tom Groth stepping down from the captaincy, Mitch Smith will lead them and believes they’ve certainly got the capability to play finals again – maybe even go one better.

While they have lost Ryan Meppem and Caleb McNeill, Blake Fitzgerald is back from Sydney.

One of the premier batsmen in Tamworth before he headed to Sydney, he is a big coup, Smith said, Fitzgerald also enticing Josh Crowe to strap on the pads for another year.

The latter will also have a big role to play with the ball, as a frontline spinner, with support from Conrad George.

Smith pinpointed their batting as where they need to improve.

“We bat deep as a line-up but we haven’t captialised on that,” he said.

After playing finals for the first time in a number of seasons, they have been decimated with skipper Tim Kensell retiring and Tom Scoble and Sage Cook moving to Sydney. They’ve also lost Brendon Reynolds, leaving some big holes to fill.

That is nowhere more apparent in the attack, losing their three frontline quicks.

“That really changes the whole dynamics of how we play,” new skipper Dave Mudaliar said.

He admitted that at this stage it is really an unknown for him.

“The first few weeks the seamers will start to take shape,” he said.

“We’ll have to rely on our spinners a bit - Collo (Dan Collinson) and Harrison (Kelly).”

He also made mention of young Alex Cook.

“He’s someone who has been bowling well in the nets. He’s young and keen,” he said.

“But he’s got to find his own way of bowling and we as a team have to learn to adapt.”

Stu Irwin is also stepping back up to first grade.

On the plus side they have picked up Gunnedah young gun Adam McGuirk.

As well as keeping, McGuirk will be a welcome boost to the top order.

“He’ll be very handy,” Mudaliar said.

“He scored over 200 runs last three games.”

He was referring to last weekend’s Central North Invitational Carnival where McGuirk churned off a century in the first game.

Bective’s roster has been bolstered by two of the region’s premier young cricketers. Narrabri’s Coby Cornish and Moree’s Paddy Montgomery will both ply their trade with the Bulls and will both have key roles - Montgomery as part of the pace battery and Cornish behind the stumps and with the bat.

Both aren't quite sure what to expect but are expecting challenging cricket week in week out.

“I’m looking forward to it,” Cornish said.

Reknowned as a naturally aggressive player, he said one of things he has been working on over the winter is trying to build an innings and he is looking forward to playing some two-day cricket.

“I’ve never actually played anything more than a one-dayer,” he said.

For Montgomery it is a huge undertaking. Half an hour north of Moree it is a good three and a half hour journey - four for him driving. But it's a sacrifice he's prepared to make to further develop his game.

One of the biggest drawcards is playing on turf week in week out.

“All my cricket in Moree is on synthetic,” he said.

Bowling on synthetic you have bowl “totally different lengths” to what you do on turf.

As good a players as there are in Moree, it is also a bit more social.

Their arrival has Bulls captain Adam Jones excited, although that is offsetted a bit by the loss of Jye Paterson. Nick Pearson and Lachie Davidson are also unavailable for the first little while.

“I’m really looking forward to Paddy and Lachie opening the bowling for us. It’s something we’ve needed for a while,” Jones said.

They’ll be backed up by Gerhard Labusagne, who in his first season did a good job for them, and Cooper Barnes.

Barnes was their leading wicket-taker last season and has had a growth spurt over the winter.

“If Coops improve the same amount he did last year he’ll be really good for us,” Jones said.

The likes of Lachie Barton, Toby Whale and AJ Pretorius are also a year older and Jones is expecting big things from them.

Young off-spinner Aaron Madirazza will also get his opportunity to start in first grade on Saturday.

“Obviously there’s a lot of improvement for us.

“But there’s a lot of ability in that team to improve,” he said.

The priority for that improvement is their batting.

“Just the consistency with our batting is what we need,” he said.

He said last season the bowlers toiled hard put them in positions to win games but the batsmen weren’t able to capitalise.  

After a tough first season in charge City skipper Brad Smith is a year wiser, and is optimistic there are better things ahead for his side, although as he quipped the only way is up for them.

“We feel like we’ve got a good squad,” he said.

“We’ve got a squad of 14/15 blokes available to play first grade.”

He said one of the things they have looked at is their training, and with club stalwart Peter Mead coming on board as club coach it has been a lot more professional.

On the personnel front they have lost Dan Lawrence, but have picked up Scott Brennan. The Armidale native played in Brisbane last season and has just spent the winter playing in England.

“He bowls off-spin and will bat about four. Hopefully he’ll bolster our middle order,” Smith said.

Ross Steyn is also back while Troy Hearfield will make his return to the crease after more than a decade.

One of the keys with the bat for them will be Tom Fitzgerald. He’s also just back from a England and has returned in some good touch.

“He peeled off a ton late in the English summer,” Smith said.

“I guess the ball will come on a bit quicker over here for him.”

Fitzgerald also bowled some seamers over there and may be called on to roll the arm over.

With Tait Jordan away on Saturday, the attack will be a bit more spin dominant.

Brendan Rixon will again lead the Redbacks.

“Most of the team from last year are still there which is good, it’s something to build on,” he said.

He spoke about one of the big focuses this season being having fun.

“We just need to build partnerships and just have a bit of fun,” he said.

“We at times put too much pressure on ourselves to perform.”

“It’s a big committment to play every Saturday afternoon. If you’re going to do that you might as well have fun.”

A lot will rest on he and brother Michael’s shoulders as far as the batting goes.

“We’ll try and get Michael to anchor the innings,” Rixon said.

Donny Lewington is also going to play first grade to start the season, which will help out a lot from a leadership point of view, Rixon said.

At the other end of the spectrum, after getting a bit of exposure to first grade last season, Alex Roseby will be one of the young guns to watch.

They face Wests at Riverside 1, while Bective play City at Riverside 2 and Old Boys and Souths match up in a grand final rematch at No.1 Oval.