Harry Kempston confirmed as Macquarie Raiders' halfback for 2023 Peter McDonald Premiership

It's been another off-season of change at Macquarie, with a number of players capable of playing in the halves leaving the club.

Merritt brothers Josh and Jai have made the switch to rivals Nyngan and Wellington respectively while young gun Blake Merritt moved to the city to chase his NRL dream with the Canterbury Bulldogs.

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Rather than go after a marquee signing to take on the number seven jersey, the Raiders have turned to the man who did the job in reserve grade last season.

Kempston has experience of playing halfback in first grade - he did so for Wellington in the COVID-impacted 2021 season - and was key to his side's success last season.

Macquarie went through the Group 11 reserve grade season undefeated and while they suffered a shock grand final loss to Dubbo CYMS, Kempston did enough to impress Ronayne.

"Harry Kempston has earned his spot there in the number seven position," the captain-coach said.

"We've still got a pretty powerful forward pack there ... but to win games you need some good halves. A lot of our stuff will come around the halves and that ball control, I think Harry will fit in perfectly there.

"He's a big talker at training and a big leader and he's got a good kicking game so definitely a lot of stuff will go through our halves."

Kempston will be part of a new-look halves combination in 2023 with a new recruit and someone more accustomed to playing in the forwards in contention to play five-eighth.

"Richie Peckham is there in the six and we've been trialling Filise (Pauta) there as well. It's a headache but it's a good headache to have," Ronayne added.

"We'll get it right for the first game."

The Raiders start their season on the weekend of April 16 and 17 against Orange CYMS.

The versatile Peckham is likely to be the one playing alongside Kempston in the halves, having returned to the Raiders after a season back at Wellington in 2022.

Having spent much of his career at the Cowboys, Peckham spent the 2021 season with Ronayne at Macquarie before returning to his home club last year.

Ronayne praised the 32-year-old's impact since rejoining the club and is one of a number of players making their presence felt at training.

Jack Kavanagh, back at the club as captain-coach alongside Ronayne this year, is another who has impressed.

Front-rower Kavanagh was a standout for the Raiders' at last weekend's annual West Wyalong Knockout pre-season carnival.

The Raiders won their first game, defeating Darling Point Coleambally, but a number of niggling injuries and head knocks resulted in a decision to forfeit ahead of round two.

Given the time of year, Ronayne and Kavanagh didn't have a full squad at their disposal and it was considered too much of a risk to play on.

There were still positives to take out of the opening win and none of the injuries are considered serious enough to put any player in doubt of missing the start of the season proper.

"It was good. We had to pull out because of injury, we were down to 11 players ... but we had a couple of young boys come up and a lot of reserve grade players and we looked good and pretty fit," Ronayne said.

"Jack 'Kav' went well. You know what you get with him and he was probably our best there. He gave away a couple of penalties but he looked good and CJ Ralph looked good out wide too.

"Kav has been consistent for a long time and he knows his game and we've been working on a lot of defence stuff with the boys, which he brought in this year.

"He's brought a heap to training and the club and he's brought a spark and we're very happy to have him back."

As well as Kavanagh and the pair from Wellington, Macquarie have also been boosted by the off-season arrival of former Newcastle Knights lower grader Billy Gilbert.

They have helped make up for the loss of the Merritts and also Western Rams representative Corey Cox, who has also gone to Nyngan.

The new players have added to a positive feeling at Macquarie after improved performances in the past couple of seasons.

After a disappointing few seasons for Macquarie, Ronayne made the switch from Dubbo CYMS and had the side in premiership contention in 2021 before COVID ended things while the Raiders were knocked out in the first week of finals by Bathurst Panthers in last year's inaugural Peter McDonald Premiership.

"Attitude is a big thing with Macquarie," Ronayne said.

"They had been losing and it had been so long but there's a new culture and we're changing that mentality around not giving up and we're working on being there for the whole 80 minutes.

"That's something we're working on and defence is a big part of things as well."

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