Western NSW FC have made its first major signing of the upcoming NSW NPL4 season and Mark Rooke is confident the club will secure another recruit next week.
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American Daniel Baumgartner, who played for the University of Hawai'i Hilo, Baltimore Kings and the Nevada Coyotoes, will join Western for the 2020 campaign.
"He's a midfielder and out of college, he's played a bit of the semi-pro competition over there," he said.
"He looks like someone that will suit our style in the midfield, a workaholic, which is what we're after in the midfield.
"At the moment, we're also trying to decide about whether we get a central defender and another midfield. It just depends on our squad lineup.
"We're slowing getting their with our squad, slowing ticking the boxes."
With a trial coming up against local side Panorama on the weekend, Rooke will also get the chance to see a few trialists play.
"We should have three guys trialling, coming up from Sydney for that match," he said.
"Hopefully, with any luck, one of those boys [trialling] is a front-third player. He looks decent, so if we can secure him it'll help.
"We've also secured a couple of the local boys last week."
Western will play in NPL4 in 2020, after being relegated from NPL3 at the end of 2019 alongside the likes of Camden Tigers, Hawkesbury City, Parramatta and Granville.
Newcastle Jets have entered its reserve side into NPL4 and Rooke expects the former Football Northern NSW outfit, alongside Parramatta, to be the bench mark of the season.
"Honestly, if we're playing semi-finals, I'll think we've had a fantastic year. Based on the sides that are going to be the competition and looking at trial results that have really come, I'm thinking, 'Wow, these teams are going to be in our comp?'," he said.
"Newcastle Jets played against APIA Leichhardt, the NPL1 side, the other week and they won all three grades - 18s, 20s and first grade."
"They'll be the benchmark and throw into that Parramatta, who a few weeks ago went to Melbourne and played in a round robin competition with three or four Victoria NPL1 teams and beat them.
"They were once a proud club and on the back of three relegations, they've restructured their club and they look to bounce back straight away. They've spent the money, got the players they want and they'll want to go up."
Western's first game of the new season will be against Parramatta on Saturday, March 7, to be played at Lithgow's Marjorie Jackson Field.
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