The Tigers,who allowedMabior Chol to head to the Gold Coast on a four-year deal,say Nankervis,contracted until the end of 2023,and Soldo,contracted until the end of 2024,can be an excellent one-two punch.
“It will be interesting to see what we can do with that,which will be good,” Balme said.
Veteran Shane Edwards,who has been troubled by an ankle impingement,has had surgery and has resumed running. Cotchin,who finished the season managing a posterior ligament issue,is also set for a strong pre-season,according to Balme.
The Tigers say senior assistant coach Adam Kingsley,who narrowly lost out to Michael Voss for the vacant Carlton role,will be as committed as ever,where he now will work alongside David Teague,the former Blues coach.
Injured and exhausted,the Tigers missed the finals this season,having been premiers three times over the four previous campaigns. But there is great optimism at Punt Road that they will remain firmly in premiership calculations.
They have snaredformer Kangaroo Robbie Tarrant to fill the key defensive post left by the retirement of premiership plank David Astbury,while they also have five selections in the top 30 of the November 24 national draft. They have selections No.7,15,26,27 and 28after a pick swap with Collingwood,although this could yet change.
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“We have good draft picks,five under 30,and Robbie Tarrant will be helpful for us. Who knows but we think we will be contenders for sure,” Balme said.
“But we just need to get a few more fit blokes on the track. We just didn’t have enough last year. Sometimes that is just an excuse for poor performance,but it was a fact for us. There were times when we had almost no one in defence and no one in the midfield from the last week. It’s hard to recover from that.”
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