Centrals get their man
PROVEN goalkicker James Gough is expected to make his debut for Werribee Centrals after the club won a clearance battle.
The Centurians named Gough in their side for Saturday’s clash with Geelong West after his old club Fairpark initially planned to keep a hold of him.
Co-coach Nick Smith said Gough’s registration with Werribee Centrals had landed on Friday morning.
The 195cm big man pounded a ton of goals under Smith when playing for Waverley in 2016.
Gough will be joined by surprise packet Paddy Daley.
A ruckman with a basketball background, Daley will start in the centre against Geelong West on Saturday, forcing recruit Brad Neurath (Portarlington) to watch on as he recovers from an injury interrupted pre-season.
“He is very, very raw. He is about (196cm) and comes from a basketball background and is a bit of a leaper,” Smith said of Daley.
“He had actually trained with us a couple of times, so we kind of knew of him and weren’t sure he would commit and he has actually played all of the practice matches and ruck dominance — if you can turn that into clearance dominance — that is a pretty big deal.”
Fellow recruits Bryce Linehan-Cunningham — the brother of rising star Connor — Dylan Harberger (Manor Lakes, WRFL), Matt Wilkinson and Jake Pettit (Werribee Districts, WRFL) have also impressed on the track over the summer months.
Injuries through summer will sideline David Stretton and Marc Yates for Round 1 and star Nick Bauld will miss the first couple of weeks of the season as he recovers from a broken cheekbone suffered in a pre-season match.
With a bunch of new faces and few missing from 2019, Smith said the entire reserves team would be made up with players who had played senior football.
The numbers are so strong for the Centurians that they played an intra-club match between two of their own reserves sides during the summer. A deeper list and plenty of hunger means Werribee Centrals is locked in on securing a top-three spot the season.
“We have high expectations. If you make a prelim (in 2019), you wouldn’t be happy with anything less than that,” Smith said.
“If we want to build on what we did last time, the only thing that is better than where we finished last time is a grand final and it’s going to be hard because we think the competition is going to get stronger.”