The Canberra Demons want to utilise the famous talent pool in NSW's Riverina and surrounding areas to strengthen their depth ahead of the next North East Australian Football League season.
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The Riverina has produced some of the AFL's greatest players including Wayne Carey and Paul Kelly and new Demons coach Kade Klemke will tap into the footballers who traditionally use the VFL as an elite pathway.
The advancement of the academy programs across the eastern states has led to the NEAFL becoming a genuine pathway with up to 18 players making their way onto AFL lists during the recent drafts.
The Demons announced on Friday they had secured the signature of Jacob Turner, Mitch Maguire and Mitch Hardy from the Riverina and Klemke said he hopes it is the start of many.
Without a state-league team being based in southern NSW the Canberra Demons could emerge as its representative team.
"We've been talking to a fair few guys from that region and it's great we could get these three guys," Klemke said.
"It will give us a head start in that area and hopefully in the future we can start to get a lot of the guys to come on board and have access to the boys there because there's some really good footballers running around."
The Demons struggled in their inaugural season to be a true representative team and are focused on engaging the community in the future.
They will play games at Queanbeyan and Gungahlin as well as Wagga Wagga with the possibility of including Albury in 2018.
The tribalism among Canberra football clubs has also made it difficult to sign local players because many refuse to play for Gungahlin Jets as a reserve for the Demons.
Therefore, Klemke will allow those who have played 40 or more games in the local league to play for their original team when not selected for the Demons.
"It's a representative team from these local clubs and we've got a lot of Canberra boys and lot of them are very happy that they can do that."
