Lawder has been rewarded for a strong performance in his first year as Barellan coach with a second season at the Farrer League club.

Lawder, and his assistant Andrew Sidebottom, were able to help claw Barellan from the bottom of the ladder in 2019 to seventh spot this year on the back of three wins.

Not only was there improvement in Barellan's results but a couple of opposition clubs also spoke glowingly of the Two Blues this year and the brand of football they played.

Lawder, who travels from Canberra, never hesitated at a second year in the job.

"Absolutely. I said to (Jeff) Mickan a week ago, I want to set Barellan up for future success and that obviously leads into next year," Lawder said.

"I said I understand I've got three kids and all that but knowing me, myself, I'm not going to rule out future years depending on how things go, whether the club's happy and whether my wife wants to allow me to continue. It is a year by year proposition.

"If it was to flow into another year, we'll cross that bridge at the end of next year but my goal when I took on the role was always to try and help the club rise and build for future success."

The off-season has got off to a good start for Barellan with '95 per cent' of players set to re-commit for next year.

Lawder would love to lead Barellan into the Farrer League finals for the first time in decades.

"I set a goal of five wins for the year and obviously we didn't get that. We were very close," he said.

"I'd like to aim for finals (next year), 100 per cent, if a lot of the recruiting comes off.

"That being said, our squad's obviously been loyal and we're pretty strong so if we can get improvement, two, three per cent out of each guy, then anything's possible.

"In my head though, I'd like to push for finals, absolutely."

Lawder believes stability in the coaching role will help with that push.

"You look at the top teams, Matt Hard's been there (at East Wagga-Kooringal) for multiple years, the same with Shane Lenon at Marrar, and when a coach has been with a group for a certain amount of time, processes start to become second nature," he said.

"So having that continuity is important. Everyone knows how to play their role and what is required so it is very important in regards to that. Next year we'll be able to tinker around with our game plan, and things we put in place and improve, that's the goal."

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Injuries cruelled Barellan's charge early in the season, with the Blues having to use 46 players through first grade this year.

Depth is one area Lawder has identified that needs improvement.

"It's funny when you look back on the year. We obviously dealt with some adversity early in the year," he said.

"We lost a few and obviously being a small town, your depth is always tested and then losing other guys towards the back end of the year as well didn't help. There were things that went against us and every club goes through those things so I was more happy with the first and the grit we showed, in regards to continuing to fight, and not throwing up the white flag so we could keep pressing.

"We speak a lot internally about our Barellan brand. We're fighters, we don't give in so that was a motto we went by through the year and it will be a motto moving forward. I set a target of knocking over those top teams, which we didn't do, so that's going to be a big thing moving forward, fixing up those lapses so we're stronger for longer, win more quarters and that leads into winning more games.

"One thing we're looking to improve is our depth, we need to build that depth so when we do get hit with those injuries, we're not as exposed. I'm confident, 95 per cent of our list is going to stay, we've just got to continue to top it up."

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