THE Kootingal-Moonbi Roosters have recruited several young guns to help bolster their under-18 and first-grade playing ranks ahead of the upcoming Group 4 season.
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Former North Tamworth Bear Brayden Reid, Farrer's Mitch Henderson and Trae Cronin headline the raft of next generation stars Roosters coach Geoff Sharpe is hopeful will make an impact at senior-level this season.
"All of these young guys have been training with the senior group on Tuesdays and with the under-18 group on Thursdays," Sharpe told the Leader.
"Brayden came over from Norths to join our under-18 team, but I expect he will make an appearance in first grade at some stage this season.
"Trae is a product of our own junior system and is a really solid front-rower.
"As for Mitch, he is in line to play in our under-18 side until he turns 17 and when he's finished up with Farrer.
"However, I don't think he turns 17 until the end of the year, so we might not be able to use him in first grade this season, but he will certainly be one to look out for."
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As well the up and coming players, Sharpe said some of the club's more experienced stars were shining on the training track.
"We've been getting about 30 on the track each session, which is quite a bit better than what we had this time last year," he said.
"It means we've not only been able to focus on the fitness side of things, but we've been able to do a lot of game-play training as well, which I think has helped us get ahead of where we were last year.
Kyle Cochrane has been training really well, as has Riley McKay, who I think will really take his game to the next level this year, after having a solid season in reserve grade last year."
Despite losing experienced campaigners such as Chris and Brad Vidler, and Jack Rumsby, Sharpe said he was confident the club could recruit like-for-like replacements.
"We've had a couple of blokes from Sydney training with us lately, who were are hopeful we can sign on," he said. "As well as them, the Hatch brothers are back and are training really well.
"Plus we have got a number of young guys looking to break their way through the reserve-grade team and into first grade, which is really exciting to see."
The Roosters will prepare for the start of the Group 4 season with a trial match against Singleton on March 14 and through the annual Jack Woolaston nines competition on March 21.
"At this stage, we are hoping the recent rain will allow us to play that game at Kooty," Sharpe said.
"It was in a bit of a bad way, so hopefully we can play and train on it in the next few weeks."