With an average age of just 24 Sedgley will go into the new season with one of the youngest sides in the country, however with their top five having all played a big part in landing the second tier double for the club in SL9, they have riders with the taste of success and ones that are hungry for more. Maybe seen as a gamble in some eyes, but Gary Willetts is confident a pretty much unchanged team can challenge for honours at the highest level, and so far so good for the Sprites, who have out-scored their opponents 217 to 143 in their four pre-season meetings. Once again Shaun Talbot has led the way, he begins his tenth league campaign at the club—at which he’s been an ever-present—with a career high start of season GSA of 9.78, and it’s a mark he’s destined to improve if the preliminaries are anything to go by, maximums in the home routs against Alfreton and Mansfield were earned with ease. Like the world number 13 Libor Kovac is also averaging in double figures in pre-season, a period which began with a 12 point haul for the Czech international—who is now in his fifth season with Sedgley—in a superb 14 point success at highly fancied third division side, Shetland. Beck Sundling, Alex May and Adrian Bull all also return for the Sprites and are all averaging well above the GSA’s they begin SL10 with, as is Matt Baker, one of two new signings at reserve made by Willetts. The addition of the 24 year old looks a shrewd one at that, costing £40,000 Baker arrives with an average of just 3.59 after struggling in his first top flight season with Totton, that experience can only help him moving forward though and it seems Sedgely are now the ones that will benefit.