In a week during which Cricket Australia has raised the possibility of shipping players around the country via a draft, one of NSW's favourite sons is returning home.
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Doug Bollinger has spent his career with the Blues, but after a spell in Hobart with Big Bash League team the Hurricanes he has signed a two-year contract to join Sydney Sixers.
It will be the third BBL franchise the former Test quick has played for since the tournament was launched in its updated form three years ago, having begun with the Sixers' cross-town rivals the Thunder.
The 33-year-old has just finished a Champions League campaign with Hobart in India but jumped at the chance to play his Twenty20 cricket in Sydney again.
"I had a great time down there but it was just time to come home," Bollinger said. "The kids [Skye, 5, and Liam, 18 months] are a little bit older and I just wanted to be around Sydney.
"It's good to be around the same guys. Hopefully it will be a bit of fun."
It is unclear how a draft, if it is implemented, will affect the prospects of emerging players as Cricket Australia seeks to offer more opportunities to up-and-coming cricketers and spread talent around the states.
But Bollinger said if he was an 18-year-old on the rise he wouldn't be against switching states - as long as it was his own decision.
"Go down there for a couple of years, learn your craft and that, and if an opportunity comes, that's the way it is. I think if that situation comes up it'd be hard to say no," he said.
"On the flipside of that and you're a good 18-year-old and you want to guts it out for the next few years then good luck to you. I had to do that. I had to wait five, six years for a permanent spot in the NSW team. That's just the way it was."
