The Dragons have installed Chris Wallace as their off-field leader.

The 27-year-old comes in as a non-playing coach and after almost a decade coaching junior sides, Wallace is excited for the role with his hometown club.

"I liked a few things I seen with the way they were going last year," Wallace said.

"Hopefully we can build on that."

Last season only two of the 10 Group Nine clubs had a non-playing coach, Gundagai and Young.

However Dragons secretary Mark Hughes is confident a non-playing coach will work for the club.

"I'm sure most clubs would prefer to having a playing coach as you fill a spot and get a coach as well but this is an opportunity to give a local a run," Hughes said.

"He knows what he's going and has the runs on the board at a junior level."

In good news the Dragons have locked in Elwin for another season.

The crafty half had received plenty of interest after announcing he wouldn't be at the helm for a third season but will play on in 2020.

The Dragons believe they will retain the majority of the team from last year, however they may change their Papua New Guinean recruits as they look to bring a centre to the club.

Wallace believes player retention puts them in good stead to end their finals drought.

The Dragons were comfortably inside the top five at the midway point of the season before faltering badly.

Wallace thought fitness was one thing that let them down and will be one of his areas of focus.

"They had a lot of injuries but if we can get fit early it should be better midway through the season," he said.

"I'm a big believer that football is the same from beginners through to first grade - there is a way football is played that you can't compromise on no matter what age is playing - so we'll be implementing all the basic things you do in the junior age groups back into the seniors."

With Wallace on board it means Brothers, Kangaroos and Tumut are the only Group Nine clubs yet to lock in their coaching set up.

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