The Bushfield-based club on Friday unveiled Tate Porter, Jalen Porter and Ryley Hutchins to complement the signature of former Geelong and West Coast ruckman Nathan Vardy.

For a club with a coach as well-organised and dedicated as Adam Dowie, that's significant progress.

Dowie has spoken several times this season about the depth issues his club faced heading into 2021 and yet despite limited player personnel, the season couldn't have panned out much better.

It became abundantly clear to those outside the club's four walls that North Warrnambool Eagles didn't need to have the best list on paper to still be a genuine premiership threat as it finished second and as the only side to topple the all-conquering Koroit.

This off-season already feels quite different for the Hampden league club. Early recruiting will give Dowie and his staff time to integrate the new faces into the gameplan and get things moving without delay.

"I think my wife is pretty happy about it," Dowie joked of the club's early recruiting success.

"I feel like in the off-season, you've either got momentum, or you haven't got it. I've been on both sides of it. Say 2019 at North, we signed Billie Smedts, we signed Darcy Keast, Tom O'Leary and we got momentum in the pre-season.

"That doesn't guarantee anything but when you get a couple, it seems to flow. In 2021 for us, it was probably the other way in that we were losing players."

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Dowie said while the club had more pre-season momentum in 2019 than 2021, he felt the side gelled and performed better in 2021.

But he drew on memories of the 2004 campaign at Terang Mortlake to suggest how effective it could be.

"We had 20 clearances before the start of the season," he mused.

"Five or six of those were interleague players and we won the flag and the next year.

"I've been on both sides of it and it doesn't guarantee anything in the in-season. I've said it before and you want recruits but you don't want too many.

"I want to make sure the pathway is open for the young players to keep coming through. You're not going to say no if someone comes walking in the door but in terms of actively recruiting and seeking too many more (I don't think we will)."

Brothers Tate and Jalen Porter will fill midfield roles and will become especially important recruits if Maskell medallist Jett Bermingham decides to pursue footy at a higher level.

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Kolora-Noorat recruit Ryley Hutchins, meanwhile, will offer x-factor and spark to a talent-laden Eagles forward line.

With minimal departures expected otherwise, and the addition of Vardy to its ruck stocks, North is potentially as close to a drought-breaking premiership as it's ever been.

The only thing standing in its way? A Koroit side chasing its seventh-straight premiership. It'd be fair to assume the Saints will again be strong in 2022.

Can Dowie's men ride momentum to a flag?

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