Wayne Schultz, the 2011 Michelsen Medal winner, has agreed to terms with Castlemaine and will return to the Magpies for a second stint, having previously played at the club in 2011-12.

The experienced midfielder played with the Strathfieldsaye Storm in 2013 before playing for Essendon’s VFL team in 2014 and Northern Football League power Northcote Park in 2014 and 2015.

The 34-year-old also has VFL experience with North Ballarat, Port Melbourne and the Bendigo Gold.

“It’s fantastic to have Wayne back at the club because he is going to help us with leadership around our young players,’’ Filo said.

“He’s a quality player and his outside run and good use of the ball is something we really need.

“We have plenty of players who can win the footy, but we need to add some players who can use the ball really well and give us some outside run.

“He ticks all the boxes there and it’s a bonus that he’s played at the club before. He knows the club, knows a lot of the people around the club and enjoyed his time here last time.”

The Magpies won seven of their 18 games in 2016 and finished seventh on the ladder, three wins out of the top five.

Filo said the Magpies were heavily in list management mode as they attempts to build a side that can take the club to finals for the first time since 2005.

“We haven’t lost anyone yet, but history says every club always loses at least a couple of players,’’ Filo said.

“We’ll keep our losses to a minimum. Our first priority is to keep the majority of the list together. We will have a fairly young list again and we just need to top up in a couple of areas.”