Shaun Brooker, who joined forces with co-coach Jim Rice in 2012 to break their 26-year premiership drought, will be assisted by leading player Luke McKay.

Brooker last coached the Eagles in tandem with current head of recruitment Jamie Grintell in 2019.

The club feels he remains the ideal candidate to nurture their young talent as the Eagles look to build on a couple of tough seasons, including finishing last with just two wins this year.

"I'd been out of it for a little while and got itchy feet, and wanted to get back involved again," Brooker said.

"I gave it a lot of consideration and put a few people in place to give me a hand before I made the final decision."

Brooker said fitness and ensuring the squad takes a competitive approach to everything they do will be his initial priorities.

"I just want us to be competitive," he said.

"Last year we showed we could be in games and had chances to win, but fell away. We could sit here and say we want to win six or seven games, but if we're fit and competitive we can hopefully get across the line in more games.

"It's a fitness thing and a skill level thing. If we can hold onto the ball for longer periods, particularly under fatigue, it will hold us in good stead."

Brooker knows what it's like to spearhead a premiership, but he's aware there's plenty of work to do before the Eagles are mentioned as a contender.

"It's about building and having a really decent pre season, having that fitness base and our game style down and understanding roles in the team," he said.

"It will take a bit to get that going, but if we can have a really solid pre season and improve our fitness base, that will help a lot.

IN OTHER NEWS

"There's some really good kids coming up in the 15s and we've got a nucleus of a pretty good side.

"Obviously things didn't pan out this year, but by all reports we're keeping the nucleus and hopefully topping up with a couple more.

"We're hoping to win a few more games but we're under no illusions it's going to be hard work."

Brooker said having McKay, who was named in this year's Riverina League team of the year, as an experienced set of eyes out on the field will be of huge assistance.

"I think it's important having that on-field leadership, he'll provide that. Having Luke on board is fantastic," Brooker said.

"We're still talking to a few as everyone else is, and we're probably all talking to the same players to be honest.

"Hopefully we'll pick up a couple more recruits, but in saying that we've got some really good locals with experience now."

"There's some yardsticks in the comp like Mango (Mangoplah-Cookardinia United-Eastlakes) and Ganmain, and the Tigers will be good as well.

"There's some really good young coaches in the comp I'm looking forward to trying to beat on game day."

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: