He is barking orders and encouragement from the middle, in the heat at Glenfield Oval. 

He is a premiership-winning coach, seven times over.

But there are some things Shane Lenon says he is not: magician; messiah; nor one-man band.

“You’re only as good as the people around you,” Lenon said, as he announced his support crew at training last week. 

The man they call ‘Sparks’ confirmed the Bombers will be under the influence of two Riverina League-winning-coaches named Lenon.

His brother Brett will be a selector and match-day runner, while another former Collingullie identity – and ex-Marrar coach – Geoff Smith, will be chairman of selectors as Lenon (senior) embarks on building a culture of success. 

“Bert (Brett) is an RFL first grade premiership coach, Smithy’s been a rep coach, coached the Farrer League previously,” Lenon said. 

“We’ve also got (as players) Jeremy Rowe, who’s coached at a high level, Clint Taylor who’s been a coach and played in that successful culture at Ganmain, big Matty Molk who’s coached. So we’ve got five or six coaches in the club that have been successful and have had coaching experience.”

Lenon’s outlook is that there are no shortcuts on the path to success. It’s a sentiment shared by his new selection team.

Smith says “it’s as old as the hills, the saying, but it’s true – you work hard, you get rewarded”. He believes the Bombers, who finished fifth last year – narrowly beaten by the Northern Jets in the elimination final – weren’t far away from the top sides. 

Brett was an assistant to Shane when the Demons won the Riverina League in 2014. He was then co-coach in 2015 with Chris Gordon (now East Wagga-Kooringal assistant coach) as the club went back-to-back.

“You’ve got to have someone to lead, but it comes back to the group of blokes and if they’re willing to work hard,” Brett Lenon said.

But at a club starved of ultimate success for two decades, and approaching it’s centenary in 2018, the senior coach is aware of the expectation. 

It’s why he’s at pains to point out the importance of building a winning culture and leaning on players who have ‘been there and done that’ in the past. And he’s been impressed by what he’s seen in the first six weeks of training.

“It’s been pretty solid and it’s been hot, but they keep fronting up,” Lenon said. “I’ve been impressed with the attitude. We’re ticking all the boxes at this stage but the hard work is still in front of us.

“I’m confident we’ll improve but only time will tell. There’s probably other clubs out there that will improve as well. So we need to improve on what we did last year if we want to be up there somewhere.”

Lenon will announce his on-field leadership group in a fortnight, before Marrar plays the first of its two practice matches, against Collingullie-Glenfield Park, on March 18.