The Saints sit on top of the Farrer League ladder with just three rounds remaining and have thrown their support behind Hamblin by extending his tenure until the end of 2019.

North Wagga have won 10 games straight to be favourites for the Farrer League premiership as the club looks to win it’s first flag since 1994.

It will take Hamblin into a fourth season as North Wagga coach and he could not be happier.

“I’m stoked to get given the opportunity to coach North Wagga for 2019,” Hamblin said.

“Coming in at the start of the year, I probably didn’t plan on going in for a fourth year but as the year’s panned out, the more I’ve enjoyed it, especially the maturity of the playing group and their will to improve.”

Hamblin, a four-time premiership player at Ganmain-Grong Grong-Matong, arrived at McPherson Oval in 2015 alongside elder brother Chad.

Hamblin was assistant to his brother in 2015 and then took over the coaching reins in 2016 and has held the position ever since.

The 29-year-old said the coaching position is growing on him.

“I feel a lot more confident coaching the longer I go along,” he said.

“I feel like I’m doing a pretty good job and that the boys are right behind me. With their support and the club’s support, I was keen to do the job again.”

North Wagga president Mick Barnes has nothing but praise for Hamblin’s leadership and said it was a straight forward decision.

“It was, as long as he was happy and comfortable,” Barnes said.

“Kirk’s doing a great job, especially with everything that’s happened around the club this year, his leadership and direction has been phenomenal.

“He’s always been a good leader but he’s taken it to another level this year.”

Hamblin said the next job is to secure the Saints’ playing group for 2019, while focusing on the task at hand.

“Obviously we’ll have to start talking to players shortly and get a commitment out of them,” he said.

“We’ll have to work out our areas to improve on, what we might need to go out and get but at the moment our focus is solely and wholly on 2018 and we’ll take it week by week.”

Hamblin is confident the future is bright for North Wagga.

“The future does look bright. It’s not just first grade but I’m pretty happy with the strength across the club,” he said.

“We’ve got great juniors coming through and our reserves have got a lot of good players that with a bit more commitment could play first grade so as a whole club it’s positive.”

North Wagga had the bye last week and face games against Temora and The Rock-Yerong Creek before a final round blockbuster against Marrar, which is most likely going to determine the minor premiership.

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