NEW Dubbo Macquarie coach Guy Meredith has only been back in town for a few days but he has already made his first major decision by anointing hard-working prop Anthony Egan as captain.
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Meredith, the brother of Raiders club president Mark Meredith, took control of his first training session on Tuesday night, but has been kept up-to-date with the squad's progress during the pre-season.
Egan was one of a number of senior players to step up last year following former coach John Grey's decision to part ways with the club, and Meredith said he's looking forward to getting the best out of both his captain the rest of the squad.
"Anthony is a guy that I've been told carries a lot of respect from within the playing group and that's what I look for in a captain," Meredith said.
"I've watched some DVDs of Macquarie's matches from last year and Mick Perry has been running training for me and been in contact, and I'm pretty happy with where the squad is at right now.
"The boys have been doing a lot of fitness work, a lot of hill runs and the like, but we'll move up to Apex Oval shortly and start working on the football side of things."
Meredith also revealed new recruit Claude Gordon Jnr will get first crack at the halfback position made vacant by Josh Merritt's decision to link with Dubbo Westside.
Winger Viliame Cagibula has also left for the Rabbitohs but Meredith said he was excited to have a new back-rower arriving in the near future.
"Matt Walker is a guy that has played a lot of football up in Queensland, he's a Bundaberg representative player and he is signed up and coming, and we're working on maybe another player from up that way if we can sort out some employment.
"Shannon Ireland has come to the club as well, and Claude Gordon as well so we're working hard at covering some areas where we've had losses in the off-season."
Meredith's return to the Raiders is a homecoming of sorts, as he was a Group 11 under-18s premiership with the club in 1987 under the tutelage of Jim Kelly.
Ironically, Kelly will be in charge of the junior again this season and Meredith said he's keen to work closely with both Kelly and reserve grade coach Adam McDermott.
"I'm really keen to try and implement a structure among the three grades, where we work on the same things and try to play to the same gameplans and styles," Meredith said.
"That way, when I have to call on a guy from reserves or the 18s because of injury or rep commitments they can slot straight in and play the role required of them.
"We've got the Nine competition and some trials coming up and I'll use those games as a chance to look at the boys. We're not going to win a premiership by doing well in those hit-outs so I just want to take stock of what I have and give us the best chance for the actual competition."
