WFL - Retaining every player on the Ararat Football Club list is the immediate focus of new senior coaches Andrew Louder and David Hosking.
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Rats' president Paul Cocking and a special panel appointed the joint coaches on Friday night after receiving four applications for the top job.
"We are really happy with the decision and happy to have Scruff (Louder) and Hock on board for the 2013 season," Cocking said.
"The two (applications) from outside the club were more about money than anything else, they were injured players. The other applicant was from in town and it was a very hard decision, very hard to separate them."
For the past two years Louder has been in charge of Ararat's reserves' team, with Hosking his assistant and during that time the pair have formed a strong working partnership.
"He and I share similar ideas, we played together at Taty and we both sort of think we've got a young list and they need to be persevered with and shown a lot of patience," Hosking said.
"It has become obvious to us to coach is a big job at Wimmera League level and it is too much for just one person.
"What we plan to do is have a number of coaches to carry the load. If Scruffy can't make training because of work commitments then hopefully I can or the reserves coach can or the line coaches, it is the old 'many hands make light work'."
The focus for Louder and Hosking is to now recruit a number of players to add depth to the senior list.
Louder said he wants to instil confidence in his charges and build a positive culture at the club.
"Everybody has got a little job to play. It is kind of like a kitchen, the cook is only as good as the people working around him," he said.
"We hope to start pre-season training mid-November and do four or five weeks before Christmas, which we will have a program mapped out by a running coach.
"Over the Christmas period we will give them an off-season program for them to do by themselves, so that when they come back they haven't wasted those first initial four or five weeks. We want to come back and take off from the same spot and build from there mid-January."
One of the main focuses over the pre-season will be forming a game plan that can be implemented across all grades by the time the new season begins.
Hosking said it won't just be he and Louder who come up with the new style, but a number of football brains at the Rats.
"We will have a clearly defined game plan that people will have to learn," he said.
"So (pre-season) sessions will consist of running, skill work and whiteboard sessions. There is going to be a lot of time where blokes are sitting in the back room getting explained to them the game plan and where we want them to run."
Louder added, "If we implement that early enough and there are any chinks we can iron them out between the playing group and coaching panel as we get in.
"You've got to give them six to eight weeks working on the one thing, we can't just lump it on the players two weeks before the season starts."
The joint coaches believe their role as senior coach is not just about football, but also teaching the players values and creating a fun environment.
Hosking said the great thing about football is that it teaches players how to be a part of a team, how to work hard and a number of other important values that can be learnt from team sport.
"I reckon it will be good to see a young bloke doing something and the look on his face when he realises 'I can do this'," he said.
"Hopefully the team will pull a win or something they didn't expect out of the fire through doing what we've implemented and the self-belief and confidence they will gain. I just want to see young men improve, not just as footballers."
Louder said regardless of what happens on the field next season the pair will remain strong and positive.
"Our young kids here haven't finished reaching their potential, they've got years to go and that is what we are about teaching them, along with the life skills like Hock said," he said.
"We are both really looking forward to the challenge and just seeing if what we believe in we can actually achieve for the players and the club."