In a bid to taste sustained success, the Bushrangers have turned to home grown talent in Tiarnan and Eamon Halliday, Kayde Surrey, Tom and Eddy Cartledge, Michael Kearton and Casey McDonald to build on last season’s four wins.

New coach Nic Barnes said the club had made a concerted push to regain as many former players as possible.

“We want to get the community on board and the best way of doing that is getting locals playing,” Barnes said.

“You could throw big money around and they might stay for a year or two but that’s not what we wanted.

“My aim is getting the footballers together and building a strong bond.

“You won’t get anywhere without that.”

Josh Carr played only one match for Beechworth last season and will be like a recruit, while Kayde McDonald, Matt Ferguson, Matt Featherstonaugh, Darcy Ward and Drew Bradley have also come on board.

The Bushrangers have been going through their paces under fitness coach Justin Knobel, the brother of Wangaratta mentor Mark, and will play Whorouly in a practice match.

Barnes believes his team will have to play well to make inroads.

“Just looking at the other clubs you can see a lot quality players have come into the league,” he said.

“The competition is getting stronger.”