Rooster recruits Jack Dye and Courtney West keen to test their ability in Hampden league

Couple Jack Dye and Courtney West were unveiled as the Friendly Societies Park-based club's newest faces on Thursday.

Dye is expected to play forward in Mat Battistello's side while West can fill any role through the midcourt. The duo arrive at South Warrnambool after a stint with Bendigo Football Netball League club Eaglehawk.

Dye, a cabinetmaker, said he and West, a physiotherapist, were excited for the challenge of Hampden league competition.

"We both played our juniors at Leitchville Gunbower in the Heathcote District league," he said.

"We decided two years ago now to push for a better standard of football and netball and decided to go down the path of Bendigo league, which is quite a high standard.

"From what I've heard, it's very similar to the Hampden league here. I think we'll both slot in all right, I think."

He said they'd settled in to Warrnambool after arriving in mid-January.

"We've been here nearly a month now and we've just been trying to find our way around town and get used to the area and familiarise ourselves a bit," Dye said.

"We'd always looked a coastal town really. We're loving being the near the beach and it's a bit of a change. It's about four and half hours from home if we do want to get home and some point.

"We have close family back home who are very keen on their footy and netball and like to come support us both when they can but it might be a bit of a stretch now living that far away."

Dye said the pair considered taking a year off to familiarise themselves with the town but after landing work, decided to take the plunge.

He said South had initially been a good fit. "We've both been very sporty since our junior days and if it wasn't footy, it was tennis, so it's made us pretty keen to get back into," Dye said.

"We've got probably a couple of people we know in Warrnambool but not many.

"We're probably coming into a footy-netball club and you meet people, make new friendships from there. That's one aspect of why we looked at playing footy and netball again."

South Warrnambool finished third in the COVID-cancelled 2021 season while its open netball side was second behind Cobden. Both were on track to play finals. Dye and West's commitment to South came just prior to another couple, Trent Williamson and Maddy Goldsworthy.

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