Goannas mutually part ways with off-season recruit

The forward departs after just one game for the club where he picked up a rib injury in the Goannas win over Wagga Tigers on Good Friday.

MCUE coach Nelson Foley confirmed the club had parted ways with Kirkwood and noted that the injury and him being off the standard required were the main factors in the decision.

"We have had a mutual parting of ways with Jez," Foley said.

"He picked up a pretty serious rib injury in the game against Wagga Tigers.

"The discussions that we had after that we felt he probably needed to go away and do a bit of work to get himself up to the standards that we needed of him prior to the injury.

"Then with the injury coming along and just the reality of him being out for six to eight weeks and then probably needing to do a fair block after that to get himself where we needed him.

"Add the difficulties of being a travelling player and not being able to mesh with the group whilst he's in that phase, we unfortunately came to an agreement that it probably wasn't going to work out this year.

"The best thing for both parties was to part ways and give him the opportunity to find something that might suit him better whatever that is.

"There are certainly no hard feelings on either end and we wish him all the best with whatever he decides to do with his footy from here and we thank him for the time that he was at the club."

Kirkwood had been brought in to play a role up forward for the Goannas this season and despite him leaving, Foley believed the club wouldn't be in any rush to find a replacement.

"You always have your eyes open if anything were to pop up," he said.

"To be honest with you we're really backing in what we've got at the club, there's no doubt we're young and we are probably slightly undersized in some areas.

"But we feel like we're developing a game plan that will suit that and we are really backing in the group that we've got.

"I think we played with 23 points against Griffith and we might've played with 25 on the weekend, so we are actually only using two to three multiple point players each week which is something we are actually quite proud of this year.

"If a big key forward ever popped his head up you'd be silly not to jump at it, but we are certainly comfortable with what we've got and we really want to make something with what we've got at the club now."

The Goannas suffered their first defeat of the season on Saturday against Collingullie-Wagga which has them sitting at 2-1 ahead of their clash against Narrandera on Saturday.

Foley said he was looking forward to the contest against the Eagles and believed it provided his side the perfect opportunity to respond strongly.

"It feels like an age since we've played at home on Good Friday a few weeks ago," he said.

"We're super excited to get back to Mango and have a good day out there, I think it'll actually be a really good challenge for us against Narrandera.

"They are playing some really good footy and I think it's going to be a different story to the Narrandera teams that we've probably come up against in the last couple of years.

"We are certainly looking to respond strongly and hopefully have a day where we feel really good that we are back to playing our style of footy and get a bit of confidence back through the group.

"We've got no doubt we've got a challenge on our hands that's for sure."