Wauchope RSL has lost its frontline spin duo of Bailey Smith and Anoop Gopalakrishnan as it looks to go one better in the upcoming Hastings River District Cricket Association season.
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Last year's runners up have lost Smith to Sydney and Gopalakrishnan to Tamworth, but RSL has a new captain in Matt Day, who is keen to avenge last season's grand final loss to Macquarie Hotel.
Day said, with the likes of Smith and Gopalakrishan gone, his team would face a few tough tests this season, which gets underway soon.
"We're not going to be anywhere near as strong," he said.
Meanwhile, the Macca and the likes of Port Panthers Pirates and Port City Leagues Magpies will be out to have big seasons.
Macquarie is the perennially strong team of the competition, while Pirates will push for a finals berth in 2015-16.
"They'll be hard to beat, too," Day said of Ben Woodward's side.
Day looks forward to taking over from Brad Baxter, who has stepped back from the captaincy this season.
He'll take charge of a similar core, but Day hinted at some changes on the batting card, predicting Blake Larance would shine at the top of the order.
"Twelve months ago, he was the leading run scorer in the competition," he said.
Larance will join Nathan Lyon opening the batting.
"He had a really good finals series last year," Day said of Lyon.
Batsman Matt Miller will look to take on an all-rounder role this season.
"He's been rolling the arm over at training," Day said.
