ALUN Rossiter reckons the arrival of new number one Darcy Ward at the Abbey Stadium has given the rest of the Swindon Robins roster a spring in their step.

Australian ace Ward is just two meetings into his Swindon career, having headed to Blunsdon to help them solve the number one crisis created by the departure of Pole Adrian Miedzinksi after a disappointing return from injury.

Although Ward was unable to inspire the Robins to victory on his debut away at Leicester Lions in the Elite League on July 11, he did lead the charge in a memorable 50-42 success over reigning champions Poole Pirates two days later.

Swindon skipper Troy Batchelor enjoyed one of his strongest outings of an injury-hit season against Poole and subsequently followed that up with his best result in this year’s Grand Prix series with a third-placed finish in Latvia last weekend.

Polish ace Grzegorz Zengota also continues to go from strength-to-strength, and team manager Rossiter believes Ward’s introduction to the Swindon camp has helped galvanise his troops.

“Darcy has really hit the ground running and has certainly looked really sharp since he has been with us,” said Rossiter.

“Hopefully it is going to be really good for us and it gives everyone a lot of confidence with him coming into the team.

“I think Troy has looked good because of that, he did well against Poole and in Latvia at the GP over the weekend, and Zengi has been going really well in Poland too since we had our last meeting.”

Batchelor’s excellent display in Daugavpils last Saturday came despite him still being affected by the shoulder problem that has blighted his campaign.

Although the Robins skipper is still not back to full fitness, Rossiter says Batchelor’s heroics bode well for the rest of the season.

“We’ve had a stop-start last couple of weeks but what that has done is given Troy the chance to get over his injury a bit,” said Rossiter.

“He wasn’t 100 per cent against Poole and although I haven’t spoken to him since Latvia, I don’t think he aggravated it and obviously time has moved on since then too.

“He is probably still not quite at 100 per cent but hopefully he is not a million miles away.

“Hopefully that meeting will do Troy the world of good.

“I sent him a text before the meet saying good luck and it’s time to step up.

“He certainly did that and I’m really pleased for him.”