The Eagles have announced co-head coaches for season 2022 with Damien Joiner joining Brett Sladdin at the helm.

Joiner, former Stawell Warriors coach, joined the club at the conclusion of the 2019 season in an effort to resurrect the club. Being two years removed from coaching, he is "refreshed" and excited to take on the coaching role at the Eagles.

"After the year we had this year it was a no brainer, it's a really exciting time at the club, I was more than happy to jump at the opportunity," he said.

"I had the assistant role this year and after coaching at Stawell, I had the year off to refresh.

"The club came to me and asked whether I would like to step up and take the head role with Brett. I got along perfectly with him throughout the year and thought he did some pretty good things.

"It was a pretty easy decision in the end to take it, I am really looking forward to next year."

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Joiner said he will lace up the boots once more and coach from an on-field capacity next season.

"I will be having a run around next year as well, Brett will coach from the sidelines and I will be running around on the field," he said.

Joiner is itching for pre-season to start and build on the club's positive season.

"It was a very exciting season, a lot of firsts for the club which got a bit of a buzz going around the club. Every week the boys got tighter and tighter," he said.

"I believe every team in the finals was keeping an eye on us because I reckon we were going to do some damage.

"The group is very excited and eager, as a club we are looking forward to 2022."

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Sladdin said the club "wanted it to get done pretty quickly", so he and the club could start planning for next season.

"Everyone was still on board so it was a no brainer really," he said.

He believes the transition will be smooth for Joiner to join him as coach next season, as the building blocks were already in place.

"He has been taking training a lot, him and Naish (McRoberts) for this year and half of last year," Sladdin said.

"He will take most of the training and then we will work out how it will work out on the weekends."

Despite having a remarkably better season than in 2019, Sladdin believes the Eagles will continue to fly up the ladder next year.

"I think it could have been better, we lost one game by six points, two by eight and the Tatyoon game where we had the same amount of scoring shots so it's not like we were out of any of those games," he said.

"A couple of kicks either way and we could have been higher on the ladder.

"Overall, from where we came from, it was a pretty good start."

A season highlight for Sladdin was in round six when the Eagles comprehensively defeated Moyston Willaura.

"I think probably the Moyston game, I think that day everyone was pumped and ready to go. I think it was a pretty solid four quarter effort," he said.

"They were around about the same mark as us, so it was a really important game."

Sladdin said it was great to see players step up this season and believes if the club is going to take another step forward next year, the improvement will come from within.

"Everyone expected Tom (Taurau), Naish (McRoberts) and Jayden (Wright) to get better and they did," he said.

"Blokes like Aaron Neil, Ben Robertson and Adrian Reid, I hadn't seen a lot of since juniors, they were really consistent all year and all had really good years and I expect them to get even better.

"We probably had a dozen blokes, apart from the blokes you expect, who really stood up which was fantastic."

Sladdin is hopeful his team can build off the confidence created from coming within a goal of Great Western in round two and play finals next season.

"The Great Western when we only lost by a goal made the boys realise we actually aren't that far off it," he said.

"We definitely think we can play finals and we think we can improve on where we finished this year and finish higher on the ladder."

The club is planning on starting pre-season in November, government regulations permitting.

"We are planning on getting back into it mid to late November. We are thinking about five weeks before Christmas," Sladdin said.

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