Griffith coach Will Griggs has declared he's going nowhere, committing to a third season at the helm and promising that the Swans have every intention of being a premiership contender.
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The club is confident they'll have some signings in coming weeks and, combined with their depth through the lower grades, Griggs is adamant they can remain a force, despite some key departures.
"Absolutely. With the young group we've got coming up, and obviously we can develop a few blokes in our twos, we've got the depth there," Griggs said.
"We only really need to pick up probably three or four players, max, I reckon. Obviously we need to pick up some key talls, losing the Conlans, but we're talking to a few of those blokes at the moment and hopefully we get to sign some in these next few weeks."
After two straight grand final losses, Griffith have lost gun midfielder Jordan Iudica to Canberra, former coach Guy Orton to Coleambally and young forwards Jacob and Lucas Conlan to Albury Tigers.
Griggs said he was never going anywhere. His re-signing hadn't been announced pending the possibility of a co-coach, which remains an option.
He said Griffith's losses are circumstantial rather than an exodus at Exies. Iudica (who was considering co-coaching) had had enough of travelling from Canberra, Orton opted for a change towards the end of his career, and the Conlans have gone to chance their arm in the Ovens and Murray League.
"It's kind of a good reflection on the work we're doing with these younger kids that they're getting opportunities in these better leagues," Griggs said.
"These young blokes (who go) know they'll be welcomed back with open arms."
Griggs is heading into his sixth season at the Swans. After moving to Griffith in 2015, he was assistant to Adrian Pavese in 2016-17 and then took the club to two grand finals in his first two years as coach.
"He's definitely shown his value as a coach in the last few years since taking over from Pav, we're really happy," Griffith president Jeff Harris said.
"We're looking at the structures around supporting Will, in terms of bringing some other guys in in coaching roles, and mentoring roles to help develop our juniors.
"We've been deliberate about that as a club, setting up those pathways for coaches to be mentored and prepare them well for when they do get to take the reins."
Harris said the Swans are likely to lose more talented juniors beyond the Conlans but echoed the coach's view that it shows the club is on the right track.
"We've been lucky to build a pretty good junior base, they're good kids and good footballers so they'll be better off for doing that. There'll be a handful in the same boat but we'd never put roadblocks up in front of our players trying to improve their football," Harris said.
Griffith's reserve grade side won the premiership this year in their fourth grand final appearance in five years while the under 17.5 side finished fourth.
"We've got a lot of depth in the twos, and we'll back our kids," Harris said.
"We've got some really good crops of kids coming through and some will find some opportunities that they've been probably been starved of a little bit in recent years with our first grade side going so well."
Griggs' re-appointment, albeit with the possibility of a co-coach joining him, completes the Riverina League coaching picture.