Both were key parts in helping the men in sky blue regularly feature at finals time and both played big roles in Whitney Cup premiership success.

But when a brand new summer of cricket begins at Dubbo on Saturday the two will find themselves going head-to-head, and neither will be playing for Rugby.

Following Rugby missing out on the finals altogether last season, both opted to leave the club and find new homes.

Bower, the big talking point of the off-season, made the move to South Dubbo while Taylor now wears the dark blue of Macquarie and those two sides meet in round one, beginning on Saturday at No. 3 Oval.

"It was hard to move on, it had been part of my life for 20 years," Bower said of leaving Rugby.

"But I wasn't happy so I made a change and it already feels like the right decision."

While Bower is already pleased with his new club, Macquarie is delighted to have someone of Taylor's talents joining them.

A powerful batsman as well as one of the competition's leading new ball bowlers, Taylor's decision to join the Blues was music to the ears of a club left reeling by the news star junior Angus Cusack looks set to miss the majority of the season with work commitments.

"I was stoked, a quality player like that would boost any side so we're very excited," Macquarie captain Keiran Brien said, before speaking about this weekend's match.

"It's going to show where we're at, a lot of people are tipping Souths to be very strong and contend for the title but we're not too fussed straight away, this is more a bit of a trial with a few blokes away both weeks so we both might be a bit scratchy and I won't be too hard on the boys."

While relaxed heading into this match, Brien admitted third spot and a place in the finals was his side's aim this season.

A couple of Wellington's Brewery Shield winning side have also joined Macquarie while Dan Medway has returned after taking most of last season off.

Those additions have given Brien plenty of confidence in his squad, especially with regulars Ed Haylock and the experienced Jason Green and Justin Gavin all set to line up again.

For Souths, Bower is not the only major acquisition with Western Zone's reigning player of the year Will Lindsay making the move across from Mudgee.

With the newcomers joining the likes of Tim Berry, Asher Robins, Scott Tucker and Matt Finlay, many are tipping the Hornets to end their premiership drought this season and Bower said there's no reason why that cannot happen.

"I reckon Souths were good last year," he said.

"They just lost some close ones but with a couple new blokes and a good pre-season that mentality can change and we think we can beat any team in the competition."

Day one of the Whitney Cup clash between Souths and Macquarie starts from 1pm at No. 3 Oval on Saturday.