Wodonga Raiders will field a giant and well-credentialled ruck division with former VFL representative big man Scott Meyer rejoining the finalists.
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Meyer starred for the club between 2010-12 after a five-year stint with Williamstown, which included a rep match in 2008.
"As you get older you slow down a little bit, I'm not quite as athletic but, at the same time, I'm more experienced in other areas, so hopefully that balances out OK," he offered.
Coach Jarrod Hodgkin was naturally elated to land Meyer, who recently returned to the region after landing a role at Albury Racing Club.
"There's no huge expectations, I'm not expecting him to be the same player he was when he was last here, but he looks fit and I expect him to still have a pretty significant impact on the competition, he's been a fantastic player for a long time," he said.
Since leaving Raiders, the 34-year-old Meyer has been with his junior club Beaconsfield in the the AFL Outer East Premier Division, winning three league medals and four club best and fairest awards.
"You always want to do well in whatever you're doing and if you can play as good a standard as long as possible, you may as well," he said, which will delight Raiders as they know they've signed a profile player with a professional attitude.
Hodgkin says 197cm Meyer and former North Albury coach Isaac Muller will swap in the ruck and forward line, which is a daunting prospect for opponents.
"It also allows us to play Jydon (Neagle) through the middle or centre half-back a little more, if you've only got the one ruckman, you don't have that tall target down there and you've probably got to play Jydon at full-forward a lot more," he explained.
Meanwhile unlike most clubs, Raiders are still looking to add to their list.
"There's a few in the pipeline, Scott's a one-pointer and he's mates with a mate of mine, Todd Bryant, who got me to Raiders and we'll be putting a lot of time and effort into him as well," Hodgkin revealed.
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The general consensus is that seven teams will battle for the top five, with a number of people around the league privately suggesting Raiders will miss out.
However, it's hard to agree, given the club boasts five straight finals campaigns and picked up, among others, Neagle, who was in the league's best three players, prior to a year in the SANFL.
