Haines replaces Craig Bosley at the helm who recently parted company with the Lions after two years at the helm.

Haines returns to the den after spending the past two seasons with Wodonga Raiders where he established himself as senior regular.

The 27-year-old previously spent two years as an assistant coach at Culcairn under coach Jarrod Hillary in 2018-19.

"Coaching is always a challenge but one I'm genuinely excited about," Haines said.

"I was assistant coach under 'Nutter' (Hillary) for two years before I went to Raiders.

"But I always had ambitions to return to Culcairn and be involved in coaching in some capacity.

"I feel having the two seasons in the O&M under Jarrod Hodgkin and Beau Packer has been good for my development.

"To be honest I would have been happy to stay at Birallee Park a bit longer until this opportunity to coach Culcairn came along.

"I would have been silly not to take it."

Haines said his first priority would be to re-sign the playing list before targeting recruits.

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"I've started contacting the players but it's not ideal in lockdown when you can't meet players face to face," he said.

"I last played at Culcairn in 2019 but there have been a fair few changes to the list.

"A few blokes have retired, a couple relocated to Western Australia but there are still some familiar faces.

"I think the list is in reasonably good shape.

"It's a bit hard to get an accurate gauge with not a lot of footy being played the last two years.

"From what I can gather, they didn't have a lot of luck with injuries this season.

"A few close games didn't go their way either which proved costly."

The Lions finished ninth this season with a 5-11 record after making the preliminary final in 2019 under Hillary.

The appointment of Haines leaves three vacant coaching positions in the Hume League.

Brock-Burrum, Henty and Lockhart are yet to formally announce their coaches for next season.

Bosley declined to comment on his departure from Culcairn.

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