Twin City co-coach Shaun Wilhelm assures the club’s two mid-season French imports will play a part in the club’s run to the cup finals.
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Barthelemy Casanova made his debut against Myrtleford three weeks ago, while Bader Amellal was awaiting international clearance, which has since been granted.
The pair have been holidaying and haven’t featured in the line-up since, but Wilhelm is confident they will be available for selection Sunday-week against Wangaratta at home.
“They’ve been away so they haven’t really been training with us, but when they have been there, the intensity is up and they’re good to have around the club because they’re quality players,” Wilhelm said.
“It brings all the young kids up as well.
“We’ve got a good, strong core there and we’ve had seven points in the last three weeks against some good sides, so you’re going to add cream to a side that’s doing well anyway.”
Captain Tyler Curran already counts as one of the club’s Visa players, meaning both Casanova and Amellal couldn’t play in the same side due to the AWFA’s limit on two imports per team.
“We’ll rotate the two French guys in between and if Tyler is injured or out, they can both come in,” Wilhelm said.
“Tyler has been our rock, he’s our captain this year and had been really solid, so he’s not going to get dropped anytime soon.
“Two (imports) is plenty.
“We’ve got some good kids around the area, so you don’t want to keep bringing players in.
“You want to be able to keep bringing these kids up and they might end up going to Murray United.
“If you start bringing players in, you start losing the local talent.
“It is helping the comp, but I think too many will kill the comp.”
But before the French connections return, the Wanderers are set for another derby clash with arch rivals Wodonga Diamonds at Kelly Park on Sunday.
Diamonds’ caretaker coach Ian Johnson has been pleased with the inroads the side has made in recent weeks.
“Twin City are always a competitive team, they’ve got some great players, so we’ve been working on how we can be resilient,” Johnson said.
“At times this year, when we’ve conceded one, we’ve ended up conceding three or four, so that’s something we’ve worked really hard on trying to get that team mentality and really dig in.
“It was a great opportunity to come in mid-season, but there’s also not a lot you can change.”
Johnson has expressed interest to stay on as senior coach next season.
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