WERRIBEE Centrals co-coach Nick Smith is confident of landing power forward James Gough before its Round 1 opener against Geelong West.
Gough, who played kicked a century of goals for Mt Waverley in a premiership under Smith in 2016, has lodged a clearance from Fairpark to the 2019 GDFL preliminary finalist.
However, that has been denied, with the 195cm spearhead re-signing with the Eastern League club late last year.
“We see it as a formality, but I guess you never know when it comes to clearances,” Smith said.
“My understanding is was that he signed back on (with Fairpark). But over the off-season, he and his wife and his young family made the decision to move down to Geelong.
“As soon as he made that decision, I think he knew that he was going to affect his footy.
“Once that became a reality, he touched base with me knowing that I was coaching a team that was playing its footy in Geelong.”
However, Smith has played down Gough being the missing piece in the puzzle as the Centurions chase their first GDFL senior premiership since 2004.
“I don’t want to put that (pressure) on him,” Smith said. “He certainly makes us better.
“Our theory for the last three years has been to build a better team, and that usually comes from three different ways in my experience.
“It comes from your juniors; I think we’ve done really well out of our juniors over the 2-3 years.
“It comes development and improvement, which I think we’ve also got.
“But it also comes from better players. So, I guess I see him as just another piece.
“It was certainly nice to see him, ‘Bauldy’ (Nic Bauld) and ‘Sutto’ (Josh Sutton) running around in the same forward line.
“It didn’t look too bad.”
A clearance was lodged for Bauld to join a Tasmanian club in 2021, but Smith says he won’t be going anywhere.
However, Bauld is likely to make a delayed start to the season after suffering a knock in Centrals’ intra-club match last weekend.
“It looks like he might have a fractured cheekbone, ” Smith said. “He sees a surgeon on Thursday.
“It’s a matter of seeing what needs to be done and what that recovery is.
“I’ve heard that they can be really long, and I’ve heard others where they’ve played not long after, depending on the nature of the fracture.”
Werribee Centrals will meet Newcomb in a practice match at Galvin Park on Saturday before taking on Western Region League club North Footscray on March 27.
Twitter: @tom_king79
