Willis steps into Junee's top coaching role for first time in over a decade

With captain-coach Daniel Foley on his honeymoon, his assistant coach and cousin, will step up to the mark against Temora at Laurie Daley Oval on Sunday.

Willis has returned to his hometown club for the first time since coaching the Diesels in 2012.

He spent the next decade with Gundagai, with his last game for the Tigers in the 2022 grand final, capping off an unbeaten season.

Junee president David Holt thought the experienced centre was the obvious replacement for Foley, who got married on the weekend.

"Damian Willis will take over the reins this week," Holt said.

"We're ready to start the season, that's for sure.

"I believe, except for Daniel, we will be at full strength going into it."

Willis initially insisted he was coming in for a non-playing role.

However has taken part in all of their trial games including the West Wyalong Knockout.

It's the first time all pre-season Junee have been this close to full strength after a busy pre-season.

They've brought in plenty of new faces, led by former Australian sevens captain Stu Dunbar, and still have a few more on the way when the French season is over.

Holt is looking forward to seeing what they can produce against last year's minor premiers.

"We didn't get the opportunity to play at full strength but what was there gelled together pretty well," he said.

"You've got to consider that team hasn't played football together before and everything is coming together pretty nicely as well."

Junee were able to pull off a surprise in the corresponding fixture last season.

It was just one of their two wins to mark their return to first grade after not being able to fill a side in 2021 or 2022.

While they have been busy trying to add some more experienced faces into their side, Holt doesn't want to set too many lofty goals over what could lie ahead.

"We're not expecting any grandeurs or anything like that but we will be competitive that's for sure," he said.

"Finishing at the bottom of the table last season we don't want to get too far ahead of ourselves but we're confident we will give a few teams a fair shake through the season."