Trent Castles set to reignite his O&M career with Corowa-Rutherglen

Castles had two clearance applications rejected by Yackandandah before Christmas with the star forward still having a season to run on a two-year contract.

Corowa-Rutherglen lodged a third clearance application for Castles over the weekend.

Although not yet formally cleared, Yackandandah's football operations manager Sam Pan said Castles would be released and is free to reignite his Ovens and Murray career.

"We have decided to grant Trent his wish and release him to play O&M," Pan said.

"We are prepared to let him go and Trent has told us he has every intention to return to Yackandandah when he is finished in the O&M.

"So we will just wait and see if our prodigal son comes back.

"We just want to move on now and focus on what we are trying to achieve and Trent can do the same."

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Castles said he was relieved to finally put the clearance saga behind him.

"It's good news and now I can actually just focus on training and playing without any distractions," Castles said.

"I'll just move forward and put all that other stuff behind me now and off I go."

Castles trained several times before Christmas at John Foord Oval and has been training solidly since returning from the festive break.

"It's obviously only early but I have enjoyed the change in environment," he said.

"Just the professionalism of the O&M, that's what really motivates me.

"When I didn't know whether I was going to be cleared or not I didn't really care too much about football.

"But when I found out last week that Yack would clear me, I'm really keen and looking forward to training and the season ahead."

Castles is set to form a new look attack for the Roos, alongside veteran spearhead Damain Cupido who has crossed from Henty.

Cupido, 37, last played in the O&M for North Albury a decade ago while Castles has been playing in the bush since departing Albury at the end of 2009.

Castles said Cupido had dropped several kilograms in preparation for his O&M comeback.

"'Cupes' is looking a lot fitter than he has for several seasons," Castles said.

"He has been to training fairly often and I think it's fair to say we are both keen to play alongside each other.

"We'll see what happens but I think we can prove to be fairly dangerous."

Castles, 31, enjoyed his best return in front of goal last season after booting a career high of 115.

It was the fourth time the prolific goalkicker has booted more than 100 goals.

Cupido has spent the past two seasons at Henty and kicked 114 in his first year and 81 last season.

Corowa-Rutherglen have also signed brothers Damien and Cam Wilson who are expected to add further depth to the midfield rotations.

The Roos face Wodonga Raiders away for their season opener.