When the Greater Northern Raiders were first compiling a new list of outside recruits, drawing back home the four-Test spinner Xavier Doherty would have been considered a coup of epic proportions.
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But the George Town-bred Doherty, when on the cusp of cricket retirement, played a straight bat rarely seen on strike on should he bring 15 years of Tasmanian first-class experience to the Raiders.
"I'm not sure how they're planning to making it work, but I am sure there's guys up in the Cricket North competition that are good enough to drive it," he said in 2018.
But since the best from the Greater Northern Cup have even struggled to claim just six wins in their opening two seasons, the sight of adding the 67-Test spearhead Peter Siddle to the Raiders would be like paying out the jackpot.
Tasmania won the services of Siddle last month from three other states to continue his Sheffield Shield career and would also be required to play Premier League club cricket between state games.
Raiders chairman Chris Mitchell is hoping the club will be able to win Siddle over a number of rival suitors.
The newest of the nine sides would also like Cricket Tasmania to push its cause further in the name of equity.
"Every club will have a case to put theirs forward [to Siddle] in the next few months to do that," Mitchell said.
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"We will be doing that to him, but, of course, it's a lot more logistically difficult to be based in Launceston. But there may be a bit more flexibility in that given the period we are in for the next year."
The Raiders already talked Belinda Vakarewa in to sign after the rising quick bowler picked up a Cricket Australia women's national contract.
But the team that represents both Cricket North and North West have missed out on former local stars Jarrod Freeman to Lindisfarne, Alex Pyecroft to North Hobart, Trent Keep to Kingborough and Alec Smith to Clarence.
Mitchell said Siddle would not be the only target for the Raiders after Cricket Tasmania had announced a series of new Tigers signings.
"There is a set process each of the clubs in the Premier League has to go through when they want to pitch their case at a [Cricket Tasmania] contracted player," he said.
"We have done that every year, so we'll be putting our case forward to get any. We'd love to have one or two contracted players play with us."
The Raiders still seek a replacement for the resigning Andrew Gower after delaying the process a further month.
"We'll have a committee meeting in the next fortnight so we will get some direction on that," Mitchell said.
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