WANGARATTA Rovers are back at pre-season as they look to avoid the dreaded premiership hangover.

But it’s a different looking pre-season to most clubs with nine players trying their hand in the Northern Territory Football League.

NTFL regulars Brodie Filo and Kieran Parnell have been dominating as per, while Tom Boyd, Sam Nolan, Ky Williamson, Elijah and Noah Amery, Jai Dal Zotto and Preston Coleman have all been plying their trades as well.

“It’s been a different looking start to pre-season for us,” Rovers football operations manager Barry Sullivan said.

“For starters because we finished later than usual we started pre-season a bit later and then we have eight or nine boys playing NTFL footy as well.

“The NTFL’s a great place for players to develop their games and try to get to another level and all of those boys have been performing well.”

In positive scenes, the Hawks have had up to 50 players at under 18s pre-season, while 10 top aged thrids players have been training with the senior side.

The Hawks have also had new gun recruits Nathan Cooper (joining full-time) and Charlie Thompson at training with the pair set to take the defending premiers to another level.

“It’s been really positive seeing the numbers in the under 18s,” Sullivan said.

“And then we’ve also had Nathan Cooper and Charlie Thompson at training which has provided a bit of excitement to the group.

“Nathan had a fantastic year in the VFL, won a premiership with Werribee and was named in the team of the year and Charlie comes back from the WAFL where he won a best and fairest for Perth in his first year.

“The best part about those two is that they’ve been around the club previously and are really keen to dig in.

“Because we’ll only have 36 points next year we’re restricted with recruiting but the two we’ve brought in are exactly what we wanted.”

While typically premiership players can rest on their success coming off a grand final victory, Sullivan assured the Hawks are hungry for more.

“Because the premiership was more unexpected than normal all of the boys are hungry for more,” he said.

“I think the best part for us is that I believe we’re only going to go to another level.

“Young guys like Charlie Ledger, Ky Williamson, Justin Lewis – they’re only going to get better with age and experience.”

The only departures Rovers have had thus far have been Jack Gerrish (Katamatite), Finn Osborne (Corowa-Rutherglen) and WIll McCarthy (SANFL).