Brandon Purtell rejoins New City from North Albury

The 26-year-old won two provincial premierships with the Hoppers, playing more than 150 games over nine seasons at Bunton Park.

But Purtell has now returned to take on an assistant coaching role at the club where he played his junior cricket, accepting the offer from new Phoenix coach Daryl Tuffey.

New City finished bottom of the ladder last season but Purtell can see brighter times ahead.

"It's pretty hard to say no someone like Daryl, being an ex-international player," Purtell said.

"I'm looking forward to hopefully getting New City back up into the top six, making them more of a competitive side.

"For me, that's a challenge I'm more than happy to take on.

"Hopefully I can bring some experience and help some of the younger kids coming through to understand the game a bit more."

Purtell claimed 168 wickets in A-grade cricket for North Albury, where he also posted his maiden century.

Last season he played six games in the top flight, with 15 B-grade appearances.

"North Albury opened up opportunities I couldn't get my hands on previously and I learned a lot from them," Purtell said.

"It's a place I'll always look back on with good memories."

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Purtell is one of several former New City players Tuffey has contacted since penning a three-year deal in April.

"Brandon wants to further his coaching credentials and I'm looking forward to working with him," Tuffey said.

"He's a quality player and he's been in a very successful side for the last few years so to have his experience coming on board is going to be important for us.

"He's a past New City player too so he's looking forward to coming back home.

"He's got winning experience and hopefully that's going to rub off on a few of our players.

"It's going to be good having another senior bowler in the ranks to lean on and he's a very under-rated batter as well so hopefully we can tap into a bit of his potential with the bat in the middle order."

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