Smith, who also enjoyed strong success at the helm of Henwood Park over five years, was elected to take over from Brendan Flanagan, who stepped aside after five years, at the club's annual general meeting on Wednesday night.

Smith took on the senior men's manager role at the National Premier League ACT division two club late last year, but has relinquished that position to focus on the presidency.

Smith and wife Stephanie welcomed daughter Ella into the world two weeks ago, meaning Smith will have his hands full wearing a number of different hats.

"Someone's got to be in there to make sure it continues to thrive, because Brendan's done such a great job the last five years. You just can't let those years of hard work go down the drain," Smith said.

"Someone did it when I was a kid, and you really want someone to be there so the kids get the best opportunity.

The seniors had a really good reset this year, the women are building. It's an exciting time for the club, and competing in Capital (Football) is sensational.

"It's a challenge I know how to navigate my way around, I think I can continue on what Brendan's done."

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After winning the 2020 grand final the men's side had a tough season results-wise as they developed youth in a campaign ultimately cut short by Canberra's lockdown.

Smith said they expect to be in a position to compete for more silverware straight away, and wants the club to be an outlet for local talent to use to progress to higher levels.

"We want to attract the best players we can, give them the best opportunity to be noticed elsewhere and give them the best chance to pick up trophies," he said

"That's where we're at now, we've got very strong youth ad we're no longer a building club. We expect to compete for trophies and that was evident when we won a title in 2020.

"Probably a big difference now is there's no competing against local clubs any more, they're completely separate and that's always a process.

Some players being in our program are going back to local and adding benefit, and we know we'll attract quality players who want to test themselves at a high level in Canberra."

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