WE’RE all excited to get the new season under way and I am looking forward to my first one as a Swindon Wildcats player.

It’s been a long summer with a lot of uncertainties and to be perfectly honest, when I left Telford Tigers, Swindon were not really a club that were on my radar.

But the longer the summer went on, the more I spoke to the coach, Aaron Nell, and the more it seemed to be a really good option for both parties.

There were a lot of uncertainties at Telford last year and it’s not a position you – or anyone – want to be in, not knowing where your next pay cheque is going to come from.

It’s nice to have that security at a club like this but the most important thing is the on-ice aspirations Swindon have got as they are really looking to be up there challenging this season, that was the most attractive thing for me.

I definitely think Aaron has put together a squad that is capable of challenging and if we are not up there, then we haven’t done our jobs properly.

We have some great older players and it’s probably the best place in the country for younger players to come with the Okanagan Academy, so we have got a really good blend.

There is a definite pathway for the younger players which I think most clubs would envy, I don’t think many others can replicate that.

I think the amount of young guys the club has in the junior groups is up there with the most in the country, which is really encouraging. There is that pathway to senior hockey.

I have played with a few of the guys before and played against most of the other ones, so I am sure we are going to have a really exciting team. We’re going to be good to watch but also hard to beat.

As a D-man, I look around the locker room and I think we have got a really good defensive roster.

Players like Neil Liddiard and Stevie Whitfield have been here for a long time and they are really responsible guys on the ice and good heads in the locker room.

Ben Nethersell is one guy I really noticed last season. I hadn’t really seen him before but he really stood out as a good young player and then we have Ollie Stone and Joe Hazeldine.

I don’t know so much about those two guys but I they are really highly-rated so I am sure they are going to do well and it’s going to be a really good year for all of us.