Less than two months out from the opening round of the 2016 Blowes Clothing Cup season, Cowra Eagles preparations have hit full swing.
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New coach Troy Hayes outlined several players who have so far impressed including incumbent captain Chris Miller.
Miller, the Eagles' 2014 and 2015 best and fairest winner, says he's highly anticipating the start of the season and explained preseason training has been fitness based yet very rugby focussed.
"It's been very fitness orientated and Troy [Hayes] has been making sure it's rugby orientated, so we're not doing 400m runs it's more short sprints and on-the-ground-off-the-ground stuff," Miller said before talking about the new coach.
"Being an ex-player he [Hayes] obviously knows the game very well. I haven't really got an indication of how he's going to coach strategically but I'd say it'd be fairly similar to last season."
While numbers are gearing up for the looming season Miller declared the roster will be without three senior players from previous year's - the hard running Klaas Jan Hoogland and dependable workers Adam Mieklejohn and Charlie Dunhill.
"We've lost a few and they're older guys so hopefully the youth can pick it up from where they left it," Miller said.
"It's still handy having Jeremy and Jimmy Montgomery around to help some of the younger players through.
"Everyone's just keen to get the ball in their hands," he said.
Cowra's first outing looks like it'll be the annual Cowra 10s competition on Saturday, March 5 which both Miller and coach Hayes are looking forward too.
"That'll be a good indication of who's up to scratch and who needs a bit more handling on things," Miller said.
"Most of the young blokes have been standing up, Ethan Cartwright and Bill Cummins, Chris Miller as always leads the way, and Jimmy Montgomery and John Clack are really having a go as well," Hayes added.
"We'll field one side in the 10s, it's obviously a fast game and an opportunity to get the body used to the contact involved in rugby."
Cowra are also hoping to lock in a trial match against the Wagga Waratahs.
Meanwhile Cowra's Col Jeffs has been appointed the head coach of the Central West Bulls as part of a new 11-man "coaching and management group" for this season.
Jeffs says its plan is for him to oversee the representative side's season this year then someone in the coaching group takes over next season and so on.