Murray Bushrangers 2021 season preview: Ready to start fresh

The COVID-19 pandemic meant no NAB League football was played and made it difficult for the region's young talent to put their case forward.

Elijah Hollands (pick seven, Gold Coast Suns) and Dominic Bedendo (pick 55, Western Bulldogs) were the two Bushrangers to be drafted and coach Mark Brown looks to have a talented squad to take forward in 2021.

The competition's age groups have changed from under-16s and 18s to under-17s and 19s to allow the top-age prospects another chance to be noticed by AFL recruiters.

Last year's co-captain Ben Ashley-Cooper was one of the few Bushies fortunate enough to get some games in last year with AFL Canberra club Queanbeyan.

The midfielder also played in his first premiership in what was his maiden grand final appearance.

He managed to take a few positives out of a tough year for most.

"It was a bit disappointing, but we've just got to control what we can control," Ashley-Cooper said.

"That was out of our grasp, so it's about rolling with the punches and trying to get better where we can.

"There's lots of things you won't be able to have an impact on, but when it comes time for something you can control, it's really important that you put your best foot forward and really make an impact with it to get the best out of yourself."

Ashley-Cooper is set to play some Ovens and Murray football with Lavington when not with the Bushrangers

"It's a great club there and a great culture they've got, so I'm keen to hopefully have an impact there as well," he said.

"It's just exciting to get back into footy."

He's also keen to share some of his knowledge with the younger players in the Bushies group.

"Obviously a lot of the boys are leaders in their own right and all deserve to be here, but every chance I get (to mentor), I enjoy that side of footy as well," he added.

Wangaratta young gun Tyler Norton has put himself in a strong position early in the season with an impressive performance at the test day at the start of the month.

"I was pretty happy with my testing results. Coming off a strong pre-season definitely helped to build up from last year," Norton said.

"I was pretty happy with my 20m sprint (2.91), that was definitely my best result for the day.

"This will be my first year in under-19s which is a new format, so I'm keen to build a bit of experience and learn from the 19-year-olds.

"Hopefully we can get some games in."

The half-back has put in a big pre-season and also hopes to get the chance to play some senior football with Ovens and Murray flag fancies Wangaratta.

"It's exciting to have Ben Reid on board. It's a good place to be around," Norton said.

"There's a few senior boys at Wangaratta I look up to like the thirds coach Matt Hedin. He's been a really big help through seniors and thirds."

Corowa-Rutherglen rising star Ryan Eyers is also excited for his first crack in Murray Bushrangers colours.

The ruck and key forward went through the GWS Giants Academy before he joined the Bushrangers as a bottom-ager in 2020, only to have the season wiped out.

"Hopefully I can get some consistent footy in and put my best foot forward to give myself every opportunity to achieve my goals," Eyers said.

"I did some testing at the start of the month and it was good to see all the teams we'll be playing. We got some good results as a team as well which was good.

"I'm still at Corowa so it will be nice to get back there in the break and play some footy there as well.

"It will be good down there. It's been a bit of a tough few years, but hopefully we'll be back up closer to the pointy end of the ladder.

"You can't change it in one season."

Albury tall Cam McLeod is among the group of players set for a third season at the Bushrangers, but revealed he would have struggled to play much football in 2020 anyway.

"It was a bit of a blessing in disguise for me because I had glandular fever at the start of the year and I was going to miss a fair bit of footy," McLeod said.

"It gave me a chance to get fit and I didn't miss out on much which was good, but it's good to be back obviously.

"It's been a big pre-season after no footy last year, but it's good to be back.

"Touch wood everything is looking like it's going ahead as normal.

"I guess I know how it all works so I'll be able to show the young boys a few things.

"There's a big group that has been here for three years so we'll help out the coaches where we can and lead the drills and stuff like that.

"Obviously the goal is to play AFL and that's why we're all here, but I'll see how the year goes and go from there."

Noah Bradshaw's father, Daniel, kicked more than 500 goals in his AFL career at Brisbane and Sydney, but he's set to learn his craft in the midfield at the Bushies.

"I'm not as good a set shot as him so he lets me know about it," he laughed.

"I predominantly play in the midfield and I like to go forward and try to kick a snag or two.

"I want to take it game by game and hopefully string some good games together and have a pretty good year.

"I tried to go play in the Goulburn Valley league (last year) because ours was called off, but it turned into a hot zone because there was COVID around the area.

"I played one practice match for the year for the Bushies against Bendigo which was my first game in the under-18s.

"It was pretty frustrating because we had a big pre-season and the season got called off, so it felt like we did all that work for nothing."

Toby Murray was rapt to see older brother, Nick, signed by Adelaide on the eve of the AFL season and hopes he can stake his claims in 2021.

The Henty product would be the third in his family to reach the highest level after eldest brother, Sam, played 13 games for Collingwood in 2018 after a stint on Sydney's rookie list.

"He's (Nick) obviously worked really hard for it. As Adelaide said he was running at 1am once he got off the header," Toby said.

"He's worked hard for it and he deserves it.

"He pushes me when we train together, but he's pretty quiet."

Sam is set to play out the season at Wangaratta Rovers in the Ovens and Murray and Toby hopes he'll get the chance to play with him at some stage.

"It will be good having Sam back, I haven't seen him play for a while," he said.

"It should be very interesting and hopefully Rovers go alright."

It will be Toby's second year as a Bushranger.

"I just want to improve my footy and play as much for the Bushies as I can," he said.

"I mainly play ruck and a bit in the forward line as well.

"I haven't done much ruck work in the past so I went to keep working on that and improving all the basic skills."

The Bushrangers open the season against Bendigo Pioneers at Shepparton's Deakin Reserve on April 4.

Ovens and Murray clubs make up more than half of the 2021 Murray Bushrangers under-19s squad with 25 out of the 44 selected players. The full under-19 squad for the NAB League season is as follows:

Albury: William Bowden, Charlie Byrne, Fletcher Hart, Cameron McLeod, Patrick Parnell and Daniel Turner;

Cobram: Harry Beasley;

Corowa-Rutherglen: Ryan Eyers;

Euroa: Benjamin Bath and Thomas Panuccio;

Henty: Toby Murray;

Lavington: Benjamin Ashley-Cooper, Logan Berryman, Nick Brennan, Macca Hallows, Clayton Marsh and Charlie Sanson;

Mooroopna: Achaung Agog, Tom Brown and Kaedyn Napier;

Myrtleford: Ryley Bouker, Declan Bren and Charlie Crisp;

Shepparton: Jayden Gagliardi and Matthew Pellegrino;

Shepparton Swans: Diesel Batey, Joshua Rachele and Ethan Warburton;

Shepparton United: Bowen Calogero, Kade Chalcraft, Jhett Cooper, Zavier Maher and Fergus Pinnuck;

Tallangatta: Hamish O'Brien;

Wangaratta: Hunter Gottschling and Tyler Norton;

Wangaratta College: Harry Doyle;

Wangaratta Rovers: Jake Creswell;

Wodonga: Noah Bradshaw and Rhys Venturoni;

Wodonga Raiders: Tom Bracher and Jake Hodgkin,

Yarrawonga: Ned Pendergast and Jett Smith.