Former Queanbeyan speedster Hugh McKenzie has joined the Farrer League club, seeking a change of scenery and perhaps the opportunity to establish himself as a senior footballer.

In his early 20s, McKenzie has been on the fringe of first grade at the Canberra powerhouse for a couple of years, since winning the reserve grade best and fairest in 2019.

Barellan coach Alex Lawder is excited about McKenzie's commitment.

"We wanted to add some outside speed. That was one of the areas we thought we were lacking - outside speed and line-breaking ability," Lawder said.

"Hugh's a winger or half-back-flanker of late. He's an elite runner, can run all day, so there's no need for a rotation or anything, and he's very quick.

"He loves to take the game on, and run-and-bounce."

Lawder has a good association with McKenzie, having coached him at Queanbeyan, and thought he would enjoy the experience of playing in a country league.

The Two Blues have had Canberra pair Marcus Lawrence and Matt Wells depart since last year and the connection with McKenzie proved fruitful.

"Losing Marcus and Wellsy, we had a bit of a window there," Lawder said.

"We've gone from eight Canberra travelers to seven and we want that speed.

"Hugh played a few first grade games at Queanbeyan but they're one of the premier teams in Canberra and it was a hard team to crack with the amount of depth there and success they've had, with a lot of very good players.

"(A stint with Barellan) might help him to progress and learn a bit and develop into an even better footy player."

McKenzie's arrival comes on the back of Barellan's knockout recruiting blow, bringing in the Irvin brothers.

Promising footballers Riley, Mitch and Lucas Irvin and their former Griffith Swans teammate Dean Schmetzer are all new Two Blues this year along with ex Narrandera defender Luke Paterson.

"We want to tinker with our game plan a little bit. We've obviously worked on the game plan that we wanted and we want to tinker around a little bit to open up the game a little bit more and maybe speed up our ball movement, just to give our forwards a good hit," Lawder said.

"That's something we'll work on in the coming months once we get our group together and start to gel and get to know each other again."

The Canberra-based coach said he hasn't stopped thinking about football but knows harvest has been the bigger priority at Barellan.

However player' attention is starting to switch back to the upcoming season and their off-season has generated some excitement.

"We've lost a couple but I think we'll definitely improve. It's just a matter of how far and how much, with all the other teams looking to improve," Lawder said.

"You just never know... Everyone's looking for improvement at this time of the year."