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NORTH Bendigo has signed Dylan Klemm as it seeks to replenish its forward stocks ahead of its Heathcote District league premiership defence.
Klemm is crossing to the Bulldogs from Kangaroo Flat, where he has three years of senior footy in the BFNL under his belt.
Renowned for his strong set of hands, the athletic Klemm joins North Bendigo with the Bulldogs having lost their top five goalkickers from last year's premiership season - Brady Herdman (retired), Zach Alford (Charlton), Darcy Richards (Eaglehawk), Ben Knight (Boort) and Jarrod Findlay (Eaglehawk).
"He signed with us this week and the clearance has gone in, so we're rapt to get Dylan on board," North Bendigo coach Matt Dillon said on Thursday.
"He's still very young, but he's played some very good footy and has that bit of X-factor about him.
"It's a big help for us to be able to lock him into a permanent forward role and, hopefully, he can hit the scoreboard and be a real danger inside 50."
Klemm has kicked 59 goals over the past three seasons for Kangaroo Flat and was the Roos' leading goalkicker in 2018 with 28.
Klemm will be a pillar of what will be a new-look forward line for the Bulldogs given the departed quintet of Herdman, Alford, Richards, Knight and Findlay last year combined for 191 of North Bendigo's 316 goals.
"We've got a few of our key defenders like Shane Harris and Jordan Ford who have also played some very good footy up forward," Dillon said.
"Shane came to us as a forward that we played down back last year and Jordan has won two grand final best-on-ground medals as a forward.
"And we've also picked up Clay Davies to play that mid-range forward role as well.
"But there's no doubt it was really important we tried to recruit in a key forward, which we've been able to do with Dylan.
"He's got a good set of hands and is very athletic, so we think he'll add a bit of potency to us."
With the departure of Findlay to Eaglehawk, the Bulldogs will have a new captain this year in Aarryn Craig, with Jordan Ford to be vice-captain.
"Craigy and Fordy are both very loyal and super players with really good respect among the group," Dillon said.
"They are both great leaders, but different in style... Craigy leads with his playing in the way he goes hard at the footy and his smarts, and Fordy can go to a level that not a lot of others can, so we're in pretty good hands with the leadership side of things."
The Bulldogs will play practice matches on March 14 against Cohuna at Cohuna and March 21 against the Mallee Eagles at North Bendigo.
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