New Pirates coaches Mick Squires and Todd Pascoe won't be throwing the playbook out the window but they will be looking to put their own spin on things.
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Squires and Pascoe have taken over from Mat Kelly for what could be a history-making season with the club looking to become the first to win five consecutive first grade premierships.
Both have had an association with the club and know what it is all about.
Pascoe has coached junior sides in the past while Squires co-coached second grade last season with Luke Buchanan - the pair taking them to the grand final.
Squires praised the job Kelly has done over the last four years, and he and Pascoe are keen to build on what he achieved, albeit while putting "our touch on how we want them to play".
"We've got a lot of smart footballers," he said.
"Our job is just to give them the tools to try and have a good year."
He said having a couple of new coaches might be a good thing to test them, and believes he and Pascoe will compliment each other well.
It's the second time the club has been in a position to win five straight, and while Squires acknowledges it would "mean a tremendous amount to the club", they certainly aren't getting ahead of themselves.
There is a lot of hard work to be done before they can even think about that.
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"We won't put ourselves in a position to have a go at that if we don't do the little things," Squires said.
"If we don't start afresh and work hard, it won't be possible."
This is his third year involved with the club after moving to Tamworth from the coast.
Originally from Moree, he played predominantly league in his formative years.
"When I left Moree and moved down the coast, that's when I got involved rugby," he said.
Then when he stopped playing, he got involved in coaching.
The premiers will have their first hit-out this Saturday against Maitland in Maitland.
"They are one of the strongest clubs in the Newcastle competition," Squires said.
They are then set to host the Dubbo Roos on the day of the Super Rugby clash between the Waratahs and the Bulls before kicking-off their title defence with a grand final replay against Walcha.
Squires identified starting the season well as one of the things he and Pascoe are really hoping to address.
"We probably haven't started as well as we would have liked the last couple of seasons," he said.
"It's one of the reasons we wanted to play Maitland.
"We wanted that really hard trial, and another hard one against Dubbo."
Defence is another area he and Pascoe will be focusing on.
"We'll look to be a lot stronger defensively," he said.
"It was a big focus for second grade (last year)."
"Everything builds off that."
With Squires stepping up to first grade, Sean Tufrey and Simon Trappel will take on the second grade coaching duties. After guiding them to the their respective grand finals last year Anthony Barbara will again coach the women's 7s side and Matt Grinter the colts while Jeremy Maslen will look after the under-18s.
