GNFL season 2022 preview: Rovers ready for premiership fight

STANDFIRST: Towns and Rovers will face off in the opening game of the GNFL 2022 season at WA Country Builders Stadium on Friday night.

The Rovers have a strong base to build on from last season, finishing third on the ladder and losing to eventual grand finalists Railways in the first semi-final.

Coach of the Rovers league side, Ian Comben, said they have strengthened in the off-season.

“We’ve recruited Beau and Kobe Simpson, they’ve come back after a year at Railways,” he said.

He said they will provide stability across half-back and free up other players that can play an on-ball role.

Glen Prosser has come across from Chapman Valley while Denim and Delton Jones have also joined.

“The other thing we’ll be looking at is we’ve probably got four or five colt players who have played a handful of games over the last two years, I’m expecting they will step up this year and play league on a regular basis,” he said.

Comben said there were a couple of first year colts players training extremely well in Jack Campbell, Khyan Townsend and Jy Thurston.

A lot will hinge on the availability of their players coming out of Perth at West Coast and East Perth’s WAFL sides.

Jack Eastough and Edward Curely are currently at West Coast while Joseph Ugle is at East Perth.

“So when they don’t play for them, they’ll come and play for us,” he said.

“That’s always a bit of an unknown for us in that we don’t know that we’ve got them until Friday night and then they give us a big boost, obviously because of their added fitness and just the fact that they’re all quality players as well,” he said.

Overall, Comben said he was looking foward to the season with a fair bit of positivity.

“I think we’ve got a pretty talented group of players again this year as we have had for the time I’ve been here,” he said.