The Warrnambool and District league outfit finished sixth in season 2023, missing out on finals by percentage to Russells Creek and were one of the competition's most improved teams.

Nowell said the influx of a few new faces at the club, namely favourite son Justin Fedley from South Rovers and tall Jordan Boyle from Koroit would add significantly to the depth of the senior squad.

The Cats have also landed "in and under midfielder" Rhett Parsons from South Australia, while Patrick Drake has signed from Caramut but previously spent time with South Rovers.

Patrick Higgins, who last played for Allansford in 2019, has also returned after a stint with South Rovers.

It adds to an already established senior list with only one loss from last year's team. Nowell expects selection pressure to come leading into the opening match of the season.

"We've recruited really well. We sort of set out to fill some holes on the list and targeted those kinds of people to help us improve," coach Tim Nowell told The Standard.

"We missed out on a few high profile guys but got some young lads with Hampden league experience into the club which always helps.

"It adds depth to our side most importantly. We've only lost Mitch Gristede from the senior side so other than him we've retained almost everyone.

"We've got some great depth in the 18s coming through, so we've put ourselves in a good position."

Nowell said the club was looking to break into finals but wouldn't put too much pressure on it, acknowledging the side did a lot right last year and would back in its system.

"We sat down at the end of last year and looked at what we did well and not well, we've worked on those things and bringing in a few new players they'll help us fix those areas," he said.

"Training has been really solid, we ultimately want to be backing playing finals but we'll take it game by game, the more games you win the higher chance you get of playing finals so it's pretty simple.

"For us, we'll just try and play our best every week and if we're good enough the wins will come."

The Cats will take on Timboon Demons away from home in the opening round on Saturday, April 6.