RETURNING to office after a 20-year break, Tumut secretary David Polsen believes the Blues are ready to rise from the ashes of a dismal Group Nine season this year.
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Back as secretary for the first time since 1992, Polsen yesterday revealed the winds of change were ready to sweep the team up the Group Nine table in 2013.
"We're looking to be bigger and better (next year)," Polsen said yesterday.
"We're confident our performances will be better and that is no reflection on the players or coaches from this year."
Despite his optimistic forecast, Polsen admits Tumut is still far away from making significant changes to the playing and coaching personnel.
Two months after completing their commitments for the Group Nine premiership, Tumut remains without a coach and any major "outside" recruits.
Several Tumut players from the past are heading back to the club this year, but no fresh faces are on the horizon.
Polsen said Tumut was making "tentative approaches" to key players and was hopeful of a favourable response.
"It's not desperation yet," he said.
"We are making inquiries and there is no way we will be without a coach."
Tumut, however, was a similar position last year and failed to recruit a new coach, ultimately falling back on ultra-reliable Clay Campbell for another season.
Campbell is off the radar for 2013 and the Blues are eyeing a big-name replacement and a surge from the bottom of the table.
The most successful Group Nine clubs in the past 12 years, Tumut crashed and burned in 2012, finishing 10th, a precious point ahead of Tumbarumba.
Polsen is adamant Tumut has ridden out the storm and will make a remarkable recovery next year.
"It was (a dismal year)," he said yesterday.
"It was reminiscent of the last time I was secretary. We had a couple of good years but then we went into a slump.
"We always seem to have peaks and hollows.
"It always tends to go in cycles."
Unlike other clubs, Tumut has been a consistent powerhouse from 2000, but this year fell on hard times.
"We were soundly beaten in some games, but we also had a lot of close games," he said.
"It could have been better."