Ballarat has regained a potent goalkicker in the Ballarat Football League.
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Nick O’Farrell is back with the Swans after a season with Southern Mallee Giants in the Wimmera league.
He kicked 20 goals in nine games for the Giants – missing the middle of the season to travel.
Playing as a small forward, he was part of a losing grand final side.
O’Farrell’s return is a bonus for the Swans, which averaged less than 60 points a game last year.
The Melbourne-based O’Farrell kicked 44 goals for the Swans in 2017 and will add to the options available to new coach Joe Carmody.
Another Creswick player is trying his luck in the BFL with Ballarat.
Joel Berry is following a similar path to the likes of Hepworth brothers Caleb, Liam and Simon, who joined Lake Wendouree from Creswick last year.
Berry is originally from Horsham Saints where he played a handful of senior games before joining the Wickers in 2015.
He has been a regular senior player in his three seasons with the Wickers.
While Ballarat has been building a healthy list of recruits, young tall forward Tom Conroy is returning to the CHFL.
Conroy moved from Hepburn, where he was a premiership player, in 2017 and made 22 senior appearances in his two years at Alfredton Reserve.
He has been cleared to Daylesford, where he started his junior football.
Mitch Bowman will line up with South Warrnambool after one year with Ballarat.
He had planned to spend this season travelling overseas, but has secured new employment which will see him playing in the Hampden league.
Bowman crossed from Bungaree to the Swans last season, playing 15 games.
THE BFNL has released its junior football and netball fixture.
The home and away season will begin on Sunday, April 14 after a lightning premiership at Marty Busch Reserve on April 6 and 7.
All grand finals will be at Mars Stadium on Sunday, September 15.
Special features will include 14 dual gate games for senior and juniors clubs, and three dual gate games for junior and youth girls football.
There will also be two inter-league fixtures for the year against Riddell District on Saturday, May 11, and Bendigo JFNL for the Goldfields Trophy in Ballarat on Saturday, June 15.
