Midfielder Josh Brittliff joins the Two Blues from Belconnen, and impressed in his first outing last Saturday, while Michael Lovett, who was third in Tuggeranong's best-and-fairest last year, is also on board.

"He came to us looking for a change of scenery which is very handy, I'm very happy with the acquisition," Barellan coach Alex Lawder said of Lovett.

"I coached Mick about eight years ago in under 18s... he works for Sean Ellis and he wanted to play a year with me and Sean before we both call it time."

Brittliff is a rugged, solid midfielder originally from country Victoria who moved to Canberra last year.

"He's been training with us since November and tossing up what he wanted to do," Lawder said.

"We didn't know a great deal about him but he was very, very impressive in the practice match.

"We're absolutely stoked to add some more midfield depth."

Brittliff too works for Ellis, who is proving just as valuable off the field for Barellan as on it.

That's saying something, given the gun midfielder booted a lazy six goals from a forward pocket in their convincing victory against Canberra third division side Googong last Saturday.

The final margin was in excess of 10 goals but the scoreboard wasn't the priority for Lawder, particularly as just three Barellan footballers had played football last year.

"It was good for a lot of guys to get rid of some rust and blow a few cobwebs out," Lawder said.

"It was a physical contest, started all guns blazing and everyone was running frantically.

"As the game settled down, it opened up a bit and later fatigue starts to settle in.

"So we got out of it everything we expected, which was great."

Brittliff and fellow recruit Marcus Lawrence led the way through the middle.

"Being newer guys to the group, we wanted to get them in the hustle and bustle and make sure everyone could see what they're capable of, which was good," Lawder said.

Former coach Sean Browning was impressive playing up forward, along with Ellis.

Mitch Hawker and Kabe Stockton had strong games in defence while Tim Sidebottom caught the eye on a wing for the Two Blues.

A minor knee concern for Darcy McDermott was the only injury worry and Lawder couldn't have been much happier with how they're building for the season.

"The confidence that has come out of that game, the messages and the chat since Saturday, everyone's absolutely buzzing," he said.

"It's a good feeling and we really feel like we're building something."

Barellan play Narrandera in a second pre-season game on 27 March.

With a first round bye, their season begins on April 17 with a local derby at Ardlethan against the Northern Jets.

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