Bathurst Orange Inter District Cricket: Fletcher Rose hopes strong pre-season will help Centrals fire

The inclusion of Rose is a massive one for the side after the all-round threat missed the back end of the last summer with a back injury, but after a winter of rehabilitation the club's first grade leader says he's back to peak physical condition and ready to fire on all cylinders.

"I'm back to normal and very keen to see how we perform," Rose said.

For Rose, he knows Centrals has the cattle to shake things up this summer but will be looking for his troops to drop a habit they've developed in previous seasons.

"We'd love to really make an impact throughout the season but to get on the path quickly we need to scrap the slow starts," he said.

"We've been renowned for slow starts to the season and with the training we've done this pre-season, hopefully we can start with a bang and go on from there.

"I want to give a massive thank you to Graham Judge and Daryl Kennewell for the efforts they have put in this year. They've completely changed the culture and the attitude at Centrals."

There hasn't been a whole lot of roster turnover at Centrals but one addition to the side that will have pundits talking is Max Powell.

The former Kinross gun has been a model of consistency at the top of the order for the students in recent years and his inclusion for Centrals will be key in their push towards postseason contention.

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"We are very excited to see him lead the batting order this season," he said.

"We've also got Nick Rasmussen and Elisha Milson who are looking to push into the side."

Orange City has dominated proceedings in recent times and Rose can't look anywhere else when it comes to premiership favourites this year.

"They're such an explosive team and they showed their dominance last year with some fantastic performances," he said.

"They have that culture of grinding and winning at all costs and I wouldn't be surprised if they're the benchmark again this season.

"Their roster hardly ever changes every year and that shows in the results."

Rose is admittedly somewhat out of the loop when it comes to the contending teams from Bathurst but based on last year's matches, has a fair idea of what to expect from those sides.

"They were (pretty) competitive last season and never let anyone win easily," he said.

"The games we played against them were full-blown fights until the end. I hope this year is the the same because last season was such a good competition."