Horsham's Jason Kannar has taken on the role of senior coach of the Ararat Eagles.
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The announcement comes after the Eagles hosted a crisis meeting in March - discussion their options for the season after a series of players walked away from the club and the former coach stepped down.
Since the crisis meeting, a group of club members have recruited heavily and put a substantial amount of work into the club to get it back on track before the Mininera League season commences on April 13.
Kannar, a former Taylors Lake footballer, said he felt he owed it to football within the region to step in and help out a club that was struggling.
"They are a team much like Taylors Lake was and see they are struggling," he said.
"I've been on the end of a struggling team. It makes you think about the possibility of a team folding on the back of nothing.
"I am not going to answer all of their problems but can help out with trying to attract players and hopefully in time help build the club into something great again."
Kannar said looking around the group there are a lot of young players.
"Hopefully together as a team we can build the skills and develop some of the young players into becoming really good footballers," he said.
"Working together is a big key and it builds that sense of clubmanship and loyalty - so hopefully it makes the players stick around.
"I can only do so much so hopefully we can get some more players on the track that want to play football and be a part of something special."
Kannar was one of the more experienced footballers at Taylors Lake and has watched how a club has rebuilt and really focused on junior numbers.
"I've watched junior players come through the ranks and know how important junior football is," he said.
"If we can build our juniors up and get some on the park it will make a huge difference to the club.
"I really think there are enough kids around that want to have a kick and hopefully we have lots of juniors running around in the next couple of years."
Leaving Taylors Lake after nine years at the club was a hard decision Kannar had to make.
"They looked after me really well over the years," he said.
"I felt the coaching role was right for me. I might not be the most experienced coach but I have a heart of gold.
"Right now, the Eagles have a lot of support around them and a lot of people within the club with a lot of knowledge who are there to support me, each other and the club as a whole.
"I think the message this season will be about sticking together and gelling as a team."
President Nats McRoberts said it was an exciting announce for the club to make after a few shaky weeks.
"We are still doing everything in our power to keep the club afloat and push forward and we're pretty happy that Jason is now part of that," he said.
"Our aim is to try and hold off the exemption to be able to only field one side - and that includes juniors.
"Obviously we can't do everything at once but we are striving to potentially have two sides."
Over 20 players were training at Alexandra Oval on Wednesday night.
"We have a few that aren't here tonight (at training)," he said.
"We have more that have committed which can't make training every week."
McRoberts said the club have appointed Brohdie Smyth as the assistant coach.
"Jason expressed to us he would like an assistant who was involved with the club for some time," he said.
"Brohdie is a player who was part of the leadership group last year."
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