The Cobras have not made finals since 2001 but feel a busy summer of recruiting has them ready to finally play September football in 2015.

Only Sebastopol has been away from finals for longer, having not played since 2000.

Three key-position players have signed to play at Maddingley Park this year, to fill a glaring void from seasons gone by.

West Preston-Lakeside pair Peter Shepherd and Steve Shaw have come across to the club, as has Harley Nancarrow from Epping.

Bacchus Marsh president Adam Sutherland said all three players were more than 190 centimetres tall and would give his side a strong chance of breaking the finals drought that had plagued the red, yellow and black in the past 14 years.

“We specifically went after these key-position players. Hopefully, these guys can fill the void that obviously hurt us last year,” he said.

“We think we have really put ourselves in a position to challenge for finals now.

“We were close this year (2014) and just missed out, but we knew what we had to do.”

Sutherland said the club had also been brimming with excitement at the return of young gun Matt Denham, who had spent a year in Canberra playing in the North East Australian Football League.

However, Denham will miss the entire year of football after a season-ending knee injury sustained in training.

“He was going to be red-hot for us this year. It’s a real shame for him,” Sutherland said.

The new Cobras president, who replaced Pat Mullen late last year, said coach Cam Richardson had overcome nagging injuries from last year and appeared set for a massive year on the field.

“His onfield leadership really stood up for us last year. Now it looks like he has a massive year of footy ahead of him,” Sutherland said.

“His connections really helped a lot with getting these guys across to the club as well.”

Bacchus Marsh finished eighth in 2014 but only missed out on playing finals by one win.

patrick.nolan@fairfaxmedia.com.au