SMW Rover's seniors have not played finals football since 2011. However, senior team coach Kal Young said this year the club plan's to break the drought.

"The aim is to finish finals obviously, anything less than that would be extremely disappointing," he said.

"We're optimistic. It's really hard to gauge other clubs because it's been 18 months between seasons."

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SMW Rovers is no exception, as the side that takes to the field in 2021 will be quite different from that of 2019.

"We've got a few new recruits that have come on board and we've filled quite a few gaps that we felt needed to be filled from a few years ago," said Young

The club's recruits include the return of two former SMW Rovers Best and Fairest winners in John Forbes and Tom Thewlis.

Thewlis is returning to the club from Ballarat Swans, and with him comes towering forward, Jesse Nicholls.

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Also joining the club are former Boort Football Club player Zane Bedford, former Waubra football club player Jesse Sardo, and former Creswick Football Club players Ben and Leon Fogas.

Young said the club has benefited from being able to draw people from a broad region.

"We have a lot of people based in Ballarat, so that's where a lot of the connections are," he said.

"They've just come through contacts of the club who have been trying to get players across."

The club does also have a couple of senior players departing.

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Andrew Toan's absence will likely be felt after he finished third in the Mininera and District League's 2019 Best and Fairest votes.

Ian Worsfold also leaves after playing the 2019 season with the club.

But Young said he was delighted with what he had witnessed during pre-season.

"We're quite happy with where we're at as a club and are just looking forward to getting out there," he said.

"We're really happy with our playing group, we're getting really good numbers on the track and seen some players really improve just over pre-season."

SMW Rovers will begin their season away to Hawkesdale Macarthur.

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