After coming so close last season, Wangaratta Magpies A grade side is gearing up for the cricket season with an eye on the prize.

The Magpies made the grand final in both the one-day and two-day formats during the 2024/25 season, but were stymied at the final hurdle on both occasions by rivals Rovers United Bruck.

Now, with an altered list at their disposal, the ‘Pies will be eager to crack into the season and see what they can achieve.

Skipper Cooper Matheson said numbers were up on previous years, which had allowed them to organise their three senior squads more effectively and prepare in a new fashion.

“It’s been good so far, I think we’ve been training for four of five weeks now,” he said.

“We’ve got a practice match this weekend which is good, we haven’t had a praccy match since I’ve been playing, so it’s been good to have that, and we’ve been having pretty good numbers at training as well.

“Numbers coming into the start of the season haven’t been that great for the past couple of years, but because we’ve got a better base of numbers, we can actually do that.

“Our B grade is going to be a father-son set-up, so it’ll be good for the club and the culture of the club - there would be probably four or five, and we’ll top up in B grade every now and then, and we’ll get the juniors more involved in seniors as well.”

There have been some player moves both towards and away from Norm Minns Oval, but the core group remains as strong and committed as ever, led by players like Matheson, Nic Bonwick and Jack Davies.

Kyle Winter-Irving and his x-factor abilities will be plied in the CAW District competition this season, but their bowling stocks have been bolstered by the return of Chris Clement, who took 43 poles at 5.70 back in the ‘22/’23 season.

“We’ve had a fair few ins and a fair few outs - we’re still hoping to get a couple more ins but they haven’t been secured yet,” Matheson said.

“Kyle Winter-Irving has gone to Tallangatta, Dean Simmons has gone to Tallangatta as well, Ollie [Andrew] has moved to Melbourne, and Guilly [Zac Guilfoyle] has retired – he’s said it before but I think it’s for good this time.

“We’ve signed Dave Killen, he’ll be good, he’s won a fair few club B&Fs in Melbourne where he’s played, we’ve got Tyler Nanson across from City Colts, Chris Clement’s back this year and keen to get involved, so that fills another bowling void.”

With the A grade and A reserve competition moving solely to one-dayers and T20 matches, Matheson said he saw the malleability and adaptability of the league as a clear strength.

“I really like the decision, especially with us and last year having availability issues over the two weeks made it very hard sometimes,” he said.

“I think the league will adapt very well to it, going to one-day cricket.”

The Magpies will launch into their A grade season at the Bill O’Callaghan Oval on Saturday, 11 October against City Colts.