Perryman was an assistant to Somerville this season, helping guide the Demons to fifth spot, and a strong apprenticeship left the club in no doubt the best man for the job was right under their nose.

A sense of unfinished business was a factor for Somerville to return for a third season in charge after lockdown delays forced the Demons to be cut from finals. Coolamon have also adopted a co-coach arrangement with Jake Barrett and non-playing coach Mark Carroll.

"I'm excited about the group and I can't wait," Perryman said.

"Being assistant this year and captain a few years before that, it (head coach) has always been something I've been interested in. With the young group we've got and the improvements we've made this year, it's a great opportunity.

"Brett's an experienced head who can take the load off a bit in certain areas, and I can concentrate on others. He's a really good bloke and we work well together, I think it will be a good partnership.

"There's plenty of improvement to come from our young group and we saw some of that this year, but if we want to get to the pointy end we need more of that individual improvement.

"Whether it (coaching) is a long term thing I don't know, it depends how I go I suppose, but I'm looking forward to next year."

Somerville said Perryman's coaching growth basically made the decision to promote from within easy.

"We always thought Nick was going to be the right man for the job. His passion, the respect he commands from the boys and his knowledge of the game is second to none," Somerville said.

"He's a big reason why we went so well during the middle part of the year. As soon as he was keen, it was a case of working out if someone would do it with him.

"Once we got canned from the season, I was very keen to go again. With the young group we've got, if we keep them all together we can go a long way to having another crack at it next year.

"Nick's definitely a leader and the way he speaks to the group gets them moving in the right direction.

"He comes from a good strong footy family where footy is a topic of conversation over many a meal. He thinks a lot about his footy as well."

Somerville said the development of younger players and the recruitment of a couple more key position players should put them in a strong position for 2022.

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"We lacked some consistency towards the end but we were running short on players by that time as well. A big focus is on getting the depth back we used to have," he said.

"I think everyone would like two or three more guns, we'll be recruiting a few ideally. It's no secret we're a tall or two short as it is, so we need to focus on that area and we're not too far off the mark."

Demons president Noel Penfold is convinced the respective qualities Somerville and Perryman brings will benefit the club.

"Nick was very keen on doing it and as a committee we believe he'll make a very good coach. He coached the 17s a while back and did a good job, we see no reason not to give him a crack," he said.

"And Brett's been fantastic, if they had a fair dinkum vote for coach of the year he might have gone close to winning it.

"We've got a lot of good kids who will be a lot better next year."

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