Qualifying for a fourth straight semi-final and eyeing off a third consecutive decider, the Seagulls have welcomed left-arm paceman Sargent back this season after being part of the club's premiership in 2021-2022.
Sargent, a Maitland product, made his Newcastle District Cricket Association debut in 2015-2016 and has gone onto clock up over 70 matches for Stockton in the first-grade competition.
"Obviously he's been around for a while and he just adds a calm head," Foster told the Newcastle Herald.
"He's one of those guys you want to play cricket with. He's a good teammate, adds a little bit with bat and ball. It's hard to quantify a lot of the things he does bring."
Stockton finished third on the ladder at the end of the regular rounds and meet City at No.1 Sportsground this weekend.
The Seagulls first returned to the semis in 2020-2021, following a hiatus of five summers, and have remained inside the top four ever since.
A wash-out saw them eliminated on that occasion. The following year they defeated Merewether en route to a title and, 12 months ago, easily accounted for Wests before going down to Wallsend in the top showdown.
Foster, Jeff Goninan, Adrian Chad and Jake Hainsworth have been among the mainstays.
Sargent now returns to the play-offs, top-order batsman Logan Weston and all-rounder Nathan Hudson have each put together back-to-back campaigns while Cameron Tanner, Lucas Vincent, Josh McTaggart and Hayden Williams didn't appear in either of Stockton's recent grand finals.
"I think we've done alright considering we've had to regenerate a little bit again. It's happened a bit over the last three or four years, we've seemed to bring in three or four guys every year," Foster said.
Stockton won all two-day encounters except their first and last, including a 23-run loss to upcoming opponents City in round six.
"No doubt City will miss Oli [Carter, away with English county commitments], he's a pretty tough guy to replace. But I don't know how much that matters to us, if we play good cricket ultimately we'll be tough to beat," Foster said.
CITY (2nd): Callan Fowler (c), Harrison Allomes, Harry Campbell, Toby Fynn, Danial Ibrahim, Mitchell Nesbitt, Lachlan Rail, Jonah Roser, Harry Scowen, Alexander Sylow, Nick Walker.
STOCKTON (3rd): Nick Foster (c), Jake Hainsworth, Cameron Tanner, Logan Weston, Jeff Goninan, Adrian Chad, Lucas Vincent, Nathan Hudson, Josh McTaggart, Lucas Sargent, Hayden Williams.
