With about a dozen Panthers departing Friendlies Oval and eight coming in, the club has had to revise its expectations of a third tilt at a top-two finish.
The All Blacks have had a highly successful past few years, taking third in last year’s normal season and making the preliminary final before a loss to Milawa cut them out of the grand final equation.
And in 2017 the Panthers missed out on the minor premiership tag by just one win and lost to Tarrawingee in the grand final.
But this year will not be another one of those campaigns, senior coach Harry Moran said.
His side will be without Riley Moran, Harry’s brother and the club’s leading goal kicker last season, with 67 majors in 19 games.
Riley left for the Benalla Saints for a tilt at the Goulburn Valley League.
‘‘It’s the biggest turnover since I’ve been here, I think we’ve had 10 to 12 out and eight or nine in,’’ Moran said.
‘‘It’s not been great, but we will still want to push for finals. In saying that, the ones we do have had a great pre-season and we have strong numbers on the track.
‘‘Riley has gone to the Saints to challenge himself. He was well and truly at the top echelon of the OKFL for the past three years.
‘‘In my eyes he and others are fractionally too good for the league, so although it would have been nice for him to stick around, it’ll be good to see him challenge himself in the GVL.’’
Harry’s own long awaited return to the squad will have to wait until about the 10th round.
After suffering a badly injured knee last season, he is taking ‘‘baby steps’’ and doesn’t want to rush anything.
‘‘I’m training with the group, taking baby steps getting back into it after the knee reconstruction, so we’re thinking round 10-12 as the comeback,’’ he said.
‘‘I’ll be taking my time and don’t want to come back any earlier than I have to.
‘‘I’m preparing for a late burst in the second half of the season.’’
Moran said he was not too concerned with the OKFL, he expected the All Blacks to draw a tough fixture after the club’s recent successes.
‘‘We have a ruthless draw because of that, so we’d really like to make finals this year. Top six it has to be for us,’’ he said.
‘‘Milawa and Tarrawingee will be strong, Glenrowan and ourselves will be pegged back a bit this year, North Wangaratta have picked up extremely well too.’’