SWC released its team yesterday, with Pomborneit’s Steven Castle to captain the side, which will contest division two.

“I believe at the start of the year the association sent out a request to the clubs to nominate players who were interested in playing,” he said.

“There’s a couple unavailable because of work but by and large, most people who put their hands up are going to play.”

The team consists of Castle, Craig Sargeant, David Murphy (Pomborneit), Josh Barr, Clinton Baker, Todd Lamont, Todd Robertson (Mortlake), Simon Baker, Fraser Lucas (Bookaar), Travis Brown (Heytesbury Rebels), Ben Grinter and Oliver Fitzpatrick (Terang).

“It’s great to have a few young guys in there,” Castle said, referring to the likes of Grinter, Lucas and Fitzpatrick.

“It’s a long week so it’s good to have players who have a good level of fitness.”

South West will travel to Colac on Sunday to have a 50-over practice match against Colac District, which will compete in division three at Country Week.

Castle said early wins were crucial at the tournament.

“Basically the last few years, we haven’t started off on the Monday as well as we would’ve liked,” he said.

“This year we’ve got Hamilton on the Monday who we had a good win against last year, so there will be a big focus on that game and then we’ve got Warrnambool on the Tuesday.

“That’s going to be a big test.

“They beat us last year.”

The skipper believed South West was more than competitive at last year’s Country Week.

“Now we’re keen on taking the next step up,” he said.

“Hopefully we can play well and we get to play on the Friday.”

Keith Baker is manager of the SWC side.

Melbourne Country Week is from February 13 to 17.