IN SHORT

Yenda Blueheelers have signed DPC premiership winner Joey Peato and retained star forward Chris Latu as part of a significant off-season recruitment push for the 2026 Group 20 season.

The club has also added Waratah Tigers pair Solomone Nabete and Junior Lilomaiava, with assistant coach Kyle McGlashan confident the squad can make the top five.

Yenda opens its 2026 campaign against defending premiers DPC as part of Magic Round at Leeton No.1 Oval on April 11.

The Yenda Blueheelers will field plenty of experience in their 2026 line-up after securing the services of Darlington Point-Coleambally premiership winner Joey Peato and retaining a number of players including star forward Chris Latu for the upcoming campaign.

Just months after winning his second title in as many years at DPC to conclude a successful stint at the club, Peato recently agreed to terms with Yenda, joining coach Tre Holten-Williams and veteran forward Latu as one of the senior players at Wade Park this season.

Yenda assistant coach Kyle McGlashan said the addition of Peato will benefit several of the side's younger players, with the strike centre expected to bring many learnings from his successful stint with the Roosters to the Blueheelers.

"He shows a lot of knowledge and [will] help a couple of the younger kids coming through," McGlashan said. "He will be a big signing for us to help us maybe make finals and go better than last year."

The signing of Peato comes after a significant loss of experience over the off-season for Yenda, with Tommy Sellars (Goolgowi), Jacob Busnello, Isaiah Potts and Broden Piva all departing the club.

However, the Blueheelers have managed to retain several key players including Holten-Williams, Glen Buerckner-Little, Charlie Tiaina, Bohdy Brady, Junior Nauer, Dane O'Connor and Latu, who returned to Yenda last season after a stint at Griffith Waratahs in 2024.

McGlashan said that it was an easy decision to re-sign the seasoned front rower, with his strong and consistent go-forward a key component of the Blueheelers' game plan.

"Everyone knows what you get with Chris," he said. "He's a big forward who can help get us to the spot we need, so you can have people like Tre who can create chances out wide. He's a good leader and hopefully he can help the young forwards coming up and show them a bit more knowledge of the game."

In addition to this, the Blueheelers have also landed two further intra-group signings, with Waratah Tigers pair Solomone Nabete and Junior Lilomaiava joining the club for the 2026 season.

McGlashan described to Battlers For Bush Footy the previous experience of both signings and where he expects them to play this year.

"Solomone, he's a young kid who is a really fast winger [and] centre, he'll be good for us, hopefully we can get him in for a few tries this year," he said. "[Junior] is a hooker or lock, so he'll be able to help out young Bohdy Brady in hooker throughout the year and show a bit of speed around the ruck and hopefully create some chances."

As for where he sees the Blueheelers finishing this season, McGlashan said that with the team they have assembled, finals footy is the goal.

"[I'm] definitely confident, I feel like if we train hard all year, I reckon we can win a few games and definitely make the top five," he said. "Our biggest thing is just creating a good culture and getting everyone to training, and our goal is probably just to be back in the finals hunt and just go from there. We've still got a couple more signings we're looking at, we're just waiting on a few things, but we're definitely confident of making finals."

Yenda will kick off its season against Peato's old side and defending Group 20 premiers DPC as part of the competition's Magic Round at Leeton No.1 Oval on April 11.