Improving a premiership-winning outfit can be a tough ask.
So when a silky tall forward by the name of James Lloyd fell into Paul Carbis' lap five weeks into the TRFM Gippsland League season, the newly-appointed Leongatha coach must have been considering buying a Tattslotto ticket.
Lloyd grew up in Shepparton but moved to Gippsland earlier this year when his girlfriend took a job as an agronomist in Leongatha.
Word quickly spread and the 23-yeard-old soon found himself pulling on the boots with the Parrots.
As it turned out, the move was a perfect fit.
“One of the guys I knew at the cricket club knew someone at the footy club and within a week they had lined up job interviews for me and had a house sorted,” Lloyd said.
“I’ve never felt so at home so quickly. The first couple of training sessions it was actually ridiculous how many people wanted to introduce themselves but also get to know who you were, where you worked, where you came from and what brought you here. It was amazing.”
It didn’t take long for Lloyd to start repaying the welcome, with five goals on his Parrots debut against Moe in round five a sign of things to come.
In 12 games, Lloyd has hit the scoreboard in all but four and kicked multiple goals on each of those occasions.
A broken thumb sustained against Sale in round nine, followed by a couple of fractured fingers against Traralgon two weeks later led to a month-long stint on the sidelines, but Lloyd has returned at the right time and looms as a key figure in tomorrow's grand final against Maffra.
Those familiar with Victorian country footy wouldn’t be surprised with Lloyd’s impact given his background in the powerful Goulburn Valley League.
Lloyd won an under-18 premiership with Shepparton Bears in 2012, playing alongside soon-to-be Port Adelaide-turned-Hawthorn speedster Jarman Impey, before making his senior debut the following season as a 17-year-old, booting three goals in just his second game of senior footy.
He went on to make 25 senior appearances for the Bears, before spending a season at their bitter rival Shepparton United.
Lloyd returned to the Bears last year, breaking back into the senior side mid-season and going on to play in the GVL grand final against country footy force Kyabram.
Despite his natural talent, Lloyd said a new club and playing under Carbis and alongside the likes of league leading goalkicker Chris Dunne had been great for his development.
“You can’t not learn from playing with a guy like Chris Dunne. He’s just a superstar. The way he loses opponents and creates space is unbelievable,” Lloyd said.
“Between him and Cade Maskell and with Julian Lockwood now as well I’d hate to be a defender playing against us.”
Like Lloyd, Lockwood has been a valuable addition to an already dangerous forward line as another big marking target, who can also offer a chop out for ruckman Ben Willis at stoppages.
Lloyd has rotated between centre half-forward and deep full forward depending on the matchup and his marking prowess and ability to bring the ball to ground has complemented the attributes of established stars Dunne and Maskell and ever-improving wildcard Jack Ginnane.
The Parrots are expected to field five different faces to last year's decider, with Lloyd and Lockwood joined by fellow recruit Col Sanbrook, who arrived from Moe, while Rhett Kelly and Matt Borschmann have forced their way into the best 22.
Despite their strength on paper and red-hot recent form, Lloyd said the Parrots would need to be at their best to get past Maffra this weekend, as had been the case all season.
“You don’t ever get a break in this league, every week someone is trying to knock you off and that’s made it really enjoyable,” he said.
“[Maffra] are a very good side when they’ve got the ball on their terms and they are also very strong starters in all the games I’ve seen of them but hopefully we can nullify that this weekend.”
Last Modified on 21/09/2018 11:59