Reigning Warrnambool and District premiers Russells Creek to kick off season against Merrivale on Saturday

One of the association's great modern day sides is chasing a division one three-peat when the season kicks off on Saturday - weather permitting - and the Creek mentor told The Standard he was confident his premiership winning list was up for the fight.

"At the start of the season a lot of sides, including ours, we know cricket's a bit more relaxed, but we know with experience you get excited with new recruits, a new season and all of that but it's a long year," he said.

"Games are won in the nets early doors but it's a long season. There's a lot of games of cricket ahead so we know how to set our mindset.

"We know what to do with our skill sets, we know how many balls we need to bowl at training, how many balls we need to hit and how much fielding we need to do.

"The excitement of a three-peat is there but getting on the park with the boys is the exciting part and we've got a few new recruits to unveil."

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Those recruits include prized all-rounder Matt Worsnop - an experienced performer at Premier level and overseas - as well as talented youngster Noah Greene who has come across from Allansford-Panmure.

Creek have also brought in the likes of Praveen Cooray (Sri Lanka), Manny Coomaraswarmy (Glen Waverley), Jack Primmer (Nirranda), Harry Singh (South Australia), Bailey Brooks (Bendigo), Luke Cole (Ballarat) to bolster the depth.

"Every year you've got to bring people in, if you stay stagnant as a club you won't get better," Williams said of the club's new recruits.

"From local cricket to professional, you've got to have new faces to really rejuvenate the group.

"There's a lot of chatter about how we recruit but it's about the success we've had - sometimes jealousy is a curse but we know what we're doing behind closed doors and that's why we've been successful the last few years, we've got a good core group of players who bust their butts week in, week out and bringing new faces in makes it game on."

The gun batsman - who scored over 500 runs last season including the top-score in the grand final - said the group was embracing being the hunted once again.

"With prior years we've been the main side and we know any side that comes up against us, they really step up and play the best they can against us," he said.

"Every week we get a good hard game of cricket and they know we're not out there to run second. Every week is tough, regardless of the rank on the ladder.

"That's what happens when you're the top side and others are trying to chase you. We know a lot of other clubs have recruited well and it's made the league stronger. In-house, we know our game, our style and a lot of others to do too, but they're still chasing us.

"If we're not getting better, we're going to fall behind and we feel we're at the perfect age to be really successful for the next five, seven years and we'll try our hardest to keep the good times rolling."

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