HEATHCOTE coach Wayne Primmer isn't sure how much better his side will be, but is confident the Saints will be more competitive in the Heathcote District league this year.

"We needed to get more and better players and I believe we've gone out and done that. We've got more experience in, we've got blokes with finals experience and we've got players with good skills," Primmer said.

"We've improved our list in a lot of areas... how much we improve as a team, I've got no idea.

"With the recruits we added last year, by not playing we didn't get the chance to get a gauge of where we're at.

"How much we improve will be about how well we gel as a group."

The Saints finished second-last in 2019 with just one win as they continued their re-build.

Since then the Saints have secured Newbridge premiership player Billy Price, Mitch McLean, Jackson Jones, Jackson Bailey, Ryan Bailey and Jake Battye as recruits who had signed with the club for last season.

The Saints have also added another seven players, with the classy Josh Shaw and Jake Condon returning to the club, as well as Will Long, Tim Sherman, Jai Nash, Joe Langford and Matt Mikac.

Gone from the Saints' list of 2019 are former coach and veteran defender Luke Bell, Ang Romagnano, Jack Brooks and Dylan Robinson, who has headed back to Mulwala.

Hard-working on-baller Condon is returning to Heathcote, where he won a flag in 2010, after a season with Sandhurst in 2019.

Condon has been a long-time vital cog of the Saints' midfield epitomised by topping the club's best player votes for the 2010-19 decade.

The recruits include six defenders in Price, Ryan Bailey, Battye, Langford, Nash and Mikac; Primmer will look to inject Condon, McLean, Jones, Jackson Bailey, Shaw and Long through the midfield, while Sherman, who stands at six-foot-eight, is a new ruckman.

"I'm not setting any expectations as far as wins go. We'll play the practice matches and see where we're at and go from there," Primmer said.

"If we had the same group of players from 2019 and only recruited three then I could probably say our expectation would be to win three or four games. But with 12 new players, until we play some games then it's more difficult to put an expectation on us.

"What I do know though is we will definitely improve.

"We've got more experience, we've got more people who understand footy, we're quicker and we're better skilled and we've got more depth if we get injuries, so that has got to make us a better team."

Round 1 - LBU (h)

Round 2 - Huntly (a)

Round 3 - Leitchville-Gunbower (h)

Round 4 - White Hills (a)

Round 5 - North Bendigo (h)

Round 6 - Bye

Round 7 - Colbinabbin (a)

Round 8 - Mount Pleasant (h)

Round 9 - Elmore (a)

Round 10 - LBU (a)

Round 11 - Huntly (h)

Round 12 - Leitchville-Gunbower (a)

Round 13 - White Hills (h)

Round 14 - North Bendigo (a)

Round 15 - Bye

Round 16 - Colbinabbin (h)

Round 17 - Mount Pleasant (a)

Round 18 - Elmore (h)

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