Group 20 rugby league
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TULLIBIGEAL-Lakes United is on the brink of finalising its squad for the 2014 Group 20 season with the Sharks set to bring in classy Temora pair Matt Pike and Chris Jordan.
The club is in negotiations with the Dragons duo and is likely to seal the deal next week in what looms as TLU's final signings of the off-season.
Pike the brother of captain-coach and reigning Group 20 player of the year Brent is an experienced utility who last played for the Sharks in 2012, when the side lost the grand final to West Wyalong.
Jordan, meanwhile, is a hard-as-nails prop who will shore up Lakes' already impressive pack.
Brent Pike said he was confident the players will officially confirm their exit from the Michael Henderson-coached Temora side and put pen to paper in the coming days.
"We've got a young side and having a couple of older players in there will be good to give us a bit of direction if we lose our way and get off the pattern," he said.
"These guys will put their hands up and go forward when we need them to."
Pike said his brother had "unfinished business" after the 2012 grand final loss and indicated they would likely both retire together at the end of this year hopefully after winning another premiership.
"It's probably going to be Matt's last year of football and we always said when we were younger, we wanted to finish our careers off playing with each other at a club," he said.
"We wanted to do it in Temora but it's turned out that it looks like it'll happen at Lakes instead.
"Matt's a bit of a utility player he can play anywhere from lock to five-eighth to second row.
"He was here two years ago and just loved it, he thought it was an unreal club."
Pike described Jordan as a typical "old-school front-rower".
"He does all the hard yards and rips in when you need him to," he said.
"He just does all the little things right. He's a senior player and likes taking that extra responsibility.
"They're both going to be good for our side."
The pair will also help Lakes deal with a reduced role for veteran forward Michael Dodson, one of the Sharks' best players last season.
"I was talking to him about four weeks ago and he was umming and ahhing about playing," Pike said.
"He said he'd definitely come back if we needed him but it wouldn't be until June 30.
"Doesn't matter if we're leading the comp or coming dead last we're still going to say we need him," he laughed.