IN AN ominous sign for the other teams in the Gippsland League this season, Leongatha has selected possibly its strongest team of the year for this Saturday, when they host Bairnsdale at Parrot Park.

The club has welcomed back Cam Olden from Richmond with the Tigers having a bye in the VFL.

He’ll slot in nicely into the midfield or up forward when he comes on, adding further to the Parrots’ considerable fire power up forward.

And, in keeping with the club’s future strategy, they’ve promoted Thirds best and fairest player from last year, Ty Hall, into the senior side for his first game on Saturday.

Ty has been knocking the door down with some slashing form in the past three weeks, during his first year in open-age footy, and he’ll come on to a wing or forward flank.

The club made a feature of his selection when naming the teams on Thursday night and will do so again on Saturday.

“With his fitness, run and his ball use, Ty has made himself the obvious one to come in this week, but it’s what we want to be doing throughout the year,” said Parrots’ coach Trent McMicking.

“Through injury, unavailability and changes I think we used 39 or 40 players in the senior side last year and in the end, it’s been a strength.

“While we’ve still got those super stars of the club around, we want to be bringing in as many as we can to see how they go about it and for that to carry on.

“Yes, definitely, we’ll be looking to rotate those (talented young) players through,” he said.

And as strong as the Parrots look this week, there are still a number of players who would be looking to force their way back into the side when available, including Ned Hanily recovering from a fractured eye socket (still four weeks away), Aaron Hillberg, Travis Nash, Will Littlejohn and Will Dawson, recalled for Gippsland Power duties this week.

Bairnsdale has looked to strengthen its side this year and so far, it has paid dividends with a high-scoring draw against Maffra in Round 1, and victories over near neighbours Sale in Round 2 and a close one over Drouin in Round 3 before thudding back to earth against Moe last week.

They come in against Leongatha with an unchanged line-up and sitting fourth on the ladder.

They have a number of talented players and have added the likes of Victorian Amateurs Lachlan Byrne-Jones (Old Scotch) and Xavier Richards (Old Xavs), and along with Logan Austin (ex-Port Adelaide) and Will Mitchell (VFL/WAAFL), they have the top end to go with the Parrots around the ball, if not the fire power up forward.

Also, of interest each week now will be the Parrot’s winning streak of games, presently standing at 32, and also how their two-pronged, goal-scoring machine of Jack Ginnane and Jenson Garnham will go this week.

Leongatha can be expected to win at home, but if the rain arrives, it might not be a high-scoring affair and could result in a closer match than expected.

Wonthaggi v Drouin

Wonthaggi host Drouin at Wonthaggi this Saturday and while the Power can be expected to easily account for the bottom side, who come in without a win so far this season, they'll be looking to establish more consistency of performance over the next few weeks, after an up-and-down opening to the season.

The Power will be weakened up forward without their livewire, high-flyer Jack Hutchinson and pacey flanker Josh Bates but they do welcome back two experienced replacements in Fergus O'Connor and Tom Murray, who can be expected to boost that four-quarter consistency the club is looking for.

The other thing fans will be hoping to see this week, is forwards and onballers making good use of scoring opportunities after some inaccuracy in front of goal last week.

Leongatha

Backs: Jackson Harry, Sean Westaway, Xavier Lindsay

Half backs: Cade Maskell, Guy Dickson. Mitchell Bentvelzen

Centres: Kim Drew, Luke Bowman, Cameron Stone

Half forwards: Aaron Turton, Jack Ginnane, Jack Hume

Forwards: Tallin Brill, Jenson Garnham, Jesse Burns

Rucks: Ben Willis, Aaron Heppell, Jake van der Pligt

Interchange: Sam Forrester, Tom Marriott, Cameron Olden, Ty Hall.

Ins: Cameron Olden, Ty Hall

Outs: Travis Nash, Will Dawson.

Wonthaggi

Backs: Josh Schulz, Shannon Bray, Kyle Reid.

Half back: Fergus O'Connor, Tim Knowles, Jack Blair

Centres: Hunter Tiziani, Aiden Lindsay, Isaac Chugg

Half forwards: Tom Davey, Jordan Staley, Jakeb Thomas

Forwards: Cooper McInnes, Troy Harley, Tom Murray

Rucks: Toma Huther, Brodie Mabilia, Jarryd Blair

Interchange: Harry Dawson, Mitch Hayes, Ryan Sparkes, Jye Gilmour.

Ins: Fergus O'Connor, Tom Murray

Outs: Josh Bates, Jack Hutchinson.