7:00am Tuesday 19th January 2010
By Phil Chard
MATT Ford has revealed he agreed terms with Jason Doyle to return to Poole as long ago as last May.
The only thing Doyle had to do to turn the gentleman’s agreement into reality was confirm his fitness after recovering from a long-term shoulder injury.
And Ford insisted last night: “I’m totally convinced Doyley is 100 per cent fully fit now.
“He has only had five or six meetings since returning from injury, but has not suffered any ill effects.
“If anything, that part of his body is stronger than before.
“I’m sure there is no problem. He warrants his chance and we look forward to having him back.
“In fact, it was always agreed with Jason that he would come back on the same terms as 2009.
“While I understand he had some fun with the press, Jason and I agreed terms before he left to go back to Aussie in May.
“It was always a case of waiting to see if he was fit enough after the Aussie championships had finished.
“We had discussions three or four days after the championships finished. Now we both feel comfortable enough for Jason to take his place back in our team.
“A couple of years ago, Jason wasn’t far behind Chris Holder and he showed his liking for our track when he twice scored 10 points here.
“He does need to sharpen up after being laid off for so long, but once he gets dialled in, he’ll be perfectly okay as a second string along with Darcy Ward.
“We’re comfortable with the team we’ve got and hopefully we can have some good fortune this year because we certainly didn’t last year with injuries.”
Holder, Bjarne Pedersen, Davey Watt, Leon Madsen and Artur Mrozcka complete Poole’s team.
Pirates’ press and practice is on March 22. They open their campaign with a home challenge against Swindon on March 24.
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