RUTHERGLEN is set to play hard ball and has no intention of letting contracted players John Spencer and Tyson Neander switch to Hume league club Brock-Burrum.
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The pair lodged clearances to join Brock-Burrum which have been denied.
Rutherglen co-coach Daniel Athanitis said the door remained open despite the pair having not trained with the Cats over the pre-season.
"They are still our players and they are contracted," Athanitis said.
"They are welcome back, we just need them to start turning up to training.
"There is no bad blood and the relationship is amicable.
"So at the moment we are going to keep trying to get them to play for Rutherglen."
Spencer joined Rutherglen in 2017 and has booted 116 goals from 34 matches to average just over three goals a game.
Neander is also a dangerous forward with 75 goals from 27 matches over the past two seasons.
Brock-Burrum president Steve Koschitzke said Spencer and Neander were keen to join the Saints because they had several mates at the club.
"We didn't go chasing John and Tyson, they initiated contact with us because they had mates already at the club," Koschitzke said.
"They are mates with Josh McCudden, Chris Pearce and Tyson Bradsworth.
"Our players told us they were keen to come to the club and John and Tyson had a couple of training runs with us before Christmas.
"They have trained again since we started in the New Year.
"We totally respect the right of Rutherglen to decline the clearance.
"We just have to sit down with John and Tyson and decide what the next step will be."
Rutherglen has had a productive off-season signing Manny Hughes and Will McCormack from Howlong.
Darcy Spinks (Balranald), Bradley Zwiersen (Beechworth), Brendan Morris and Taylor Baker (Corowa-Rutherglen), and Jack Holmes (Whorouly) have also signed.
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