WILL the luck of the Irish be with Western NSW FC when it comes to finding the back of the net in season 2021?
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Western has signed 25-year-old attacking midfielder Marty Doherty for their upcoming National Premier Leagues 4 campaign, the Irishman having recently moved to Parkes.
He is the sort of player who Western coach Mark Rooke hopes will be able to help the side become an outfit which better capitalises on the attacking chances they create.
"He's an Irish guy and he's played a bit of football overseas. He played in Sydney last year, just locally because he'd just moved to Australia," Rooke said.
"He looks like he could be a good find. He generally plays as a number 10 in that attacking midfield role, but he has played through the front three as well.
"Hopefully he's that little key you need in your attacking third and he can find us a few goals. Certainly over the previous few years that's something we have certainly consistently struggled to deal with, we need to find more goals."
Doherty is not the only new face Rooke hopes to have in his squad this season. He hopes to lure some former Western players back into the fold and has interest from other Sydney-based players.
"We'll see how that pans out in the next couple of weeks, we'll give them some games and see what their interest is and what their quality is. We're all about giving people an opportunity," he said.
Western will resume pre-season training on Tuesday at Bathurst's Police Paddock from 6.30pm, with another session to follow at the same time on Thursday at Orange's Orange at Jack Brabham.
"From when we start next Tuesday, we have eight weeks until our first game, so it doesn't leave a lot of time. I want to find some pre-season games, I want to try and get at least five or six pre-season games, it's difficult to get that, but we need that time in our legs," Rooke said.
"It's hard to get that balance in pre-season with a lot of running and more of a focus on the ball. For me I don't want to go to training and run the whole time, that completely defeats the purpose of training because you're not touching the ball."