Central Murray: Balranald signs former Western Bulldogs player Roarke Smith

Balranald is pulling out all stops to remain one of the top teams in the Central Murray league. See the big name recruited by the small club.

Balranald has stemmed the departures of some key personnel of recent seasons in the Central Murray league with the signing of former Western Bulldogs player Roarke Smith.

Balranald, which has played off in finals the last two seasons including reaching the 2023 grand final, has confirmed the signing of Smith, who overcame two serious knee injuries to play 47 matches for Western Bulldogs between 2015 and 2023.

Last season Smith played at Port Melbourne where another Balranald recruit Cody Henness played seven matches.

Roarke Smith playing for the Western Bulldogs in 2022. Photo by Michael Klein

Henness also played 11 matches for Sale in the Gippsland league last year.

Balranald’s list of departures have included coach Jydon Neagle and his two brothers, Matt and Jaxon, and onballer Harrison Soraggi, who have all joined South Mildura in the Sunraysia league.

Kobe Lloyd is another departure, joining Calder United in the North Central league.

Balranald has a newlook coaching of co-coaches Jack Salau and Ben Fuller and assistant coach Ben Mahon.

Mahon is a former Balranald coach and Fuller kicked 65 goals in the club’s charge into the 2023 grand final before being struck down with injury last year.

Cody Henness, right, playing for Sale against Maffra last year. Picture Yuri Kouzmin

Salau said Smith was a “massive fish to land” for Balranald, which wanted to avoided a dive down the ladder after two seasons playing finals.

“Country footy is tough enough without being in Balranald, which has a pretty big geographical disadvantage anyway,” he said.

“When you’re up, you try and make the most of it.

“With the kind of players we’ve lost it will be tough.

“But we wanted to get people onboard while you still have that momentum behind you.

“Once you lose it, it can be tough to come back.”

Salau said Balranald had not finished recruiting for 2025.

In other key coaching moves in the Central Murray league this year, dual Woorinen premiership coach Marcus Demaria has taken on the Koondrook-Barham coaching job and 2012 Kerang premiership coach Paul Grayling is back in his old job replacing Troy Coates.