Cudgewa land the prized signing of Jason Bartel alongside brother Josh, Dayne Carey and Lieschke twins

Bartel is regarded as one of the Hawks finest players of the past decade.

The talented small man is both a four-time premiership player and best and fairest winner.

He notched his 200-match milestone in the brown and gold two years ago and also had a stint with Wodonga in the O&M.

Bartel is set to be reunited with his brother Josh at Cudgewa who also played at Wodonga before pursuing a punting career in the NFL in the United States.

Dayne Carey will also return to Cudgewa from Beechworth after being appointed assistant coach.

And in a further bonus, twins Josh and Chris Lieschke have crossed from Mitta United to join the Blues with their older brother, Craig at Cudgewa last year.

Rookie coach Drew Cameron was thrilled to land several key signings as the Blues strive to avenge last year's grand final defeat at the hands of Tumbarumba.

'Obviously Jase (Bartel) has been a superstar for the Kiewa footy club and it was a massive decision for him to leave," Cameron said.

"His CV is phenomenal.

"Josh hasn't played for a while because of his gridiron career.

"But I recently sold Josh's house for him after I was appointed coach of Cudgewa and I asked the question of what were the chances of getting the two brothers to the Upper Murray.

"I know Jase fairly well because I've played a fair bit of football and cricket against him.

"It's fair to say it was music to my ears when they both agreed to sign."

Cameron said he expected Carey and the Leischke twins to also prove to be more than handy additions.

"Getting Dayne as assistant coach is a massive signing for the club," he said.

"He is a nuggety forward that can rotate through the midfield and alongside Craig Lieschke will give us two attacking midfielders that can hurt the opposition on the scoreboard.

"I played with the Lieschke twins up at Mitta and I rate them both as handy players.

"Josh will help stiffen our backline while Chris is more of a skillful, running type player that is probably best suited across half-forward or half-back with there being no wings in the Upper Murray league and only 16 on the ground."

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Cameron is confident of keeping the majority of the list intact although the departure of prolific goalkicker Kylin Morey will rob the Blues of significant firepower.

"I'm not sure whether Kylin will play elsewhere but he has informed us he won't be back this season," he said.

"There could be one or two blokes who retire but with the recruits we feel we are in a handy position to challenge for the flag again.

"But obviously we haven't seen what we are up against yet."

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