The Lions announced their first signing of Michael Talbott on February 1. Talbott previously played for teh Shellharbour City Suns, and projects as a midfielder/small forward.

The 22-year-old said he was “very keen to start training with the group and bring my experience and knowledge to the club”.

The second signing came just a day later, as the club announced 23-year-old Chris Prater would join in 2019. 

The midfielder previously played for Eastlake in Canberra, but will now play for the Lions after securing a job in town.

The third signing, David Lucas, came to the club on February 5. The 27-year-old forward played for the Moulamein Football and Netball Club last season, and comes to Narooma with plenty of experience.

Lions coach Jason Sauiluma said the club was still on the lookout for more players.

“There are a few other guys that didn’t play last year that might be coming back,” he said. “There’s another three or four guys that I’m working on that haven’t committed either way, but we’re making progress.

“We lost a few guns from last year’s premiership side, but the guys coming in will offer something different.”

Sauiluma said the club’s game-plan would look a bit different in 2019.

“The makeup of our team will be structured a little differently next year,” he said. “Our game-plan, and how we go about executing it, will be more of a focus.

“We’ll aim to have a bigger spread of goal kickers this year as well. That way we’re not relying on one or two players to kick a winning score.”

The Lions lost the two highest goal kickers in the league from last season (Simon Mackie and Jai Reed), but Sauiluma says the squad has coverage for the key-forward positions.

“We already had two other guys that could have stepped into those roles,” he said. “They were just playing other positions, and filled in when Mackie or Reed weren’t available.

“There will be a few guys that will change roles this season, and we’ll see how the recruits fit into the team to see where they’re best placed.

“I’m confident we’ll have a fairly strong team this year despite our losses.”

The Lions will hold their registration night on Monday, February 11 from 6pm at the Narooma Golf Club, and Sauiluma encouraged anyone interested to come along and sign up.

“If there’s anyone thinking about playing, or has played before and thinking about coming back, we’d love to see you,” he said. “We’ll try and make every new player feel as welcome as possible.”