The Bears have been guided by coaches Brad McManus and Scott Blanch in a successful period that delivered six successive Group 4 first grade premierships and two Clayton Cups.

While Scott Blanch remains as on-field skipper, Paul Boyce takes over from Brad McManus as coach.

Boyce, who turns 40 this year, coached the Bears reserve grade side in 2021.

While Boyce grew up in Melbourne, his father was born and bred in Tamworth.

Boyce played rugby league from the age of six and was selected in Victorian junior rep sides as well as the Melbourne Storm development squad.

He also took a traineeship with the Victorian Rugby League as a development officer where he found that coaching was his "go".

"I fell in love with coaching," Boyce said.

"I took a 10-year break from playing and stuck with coaching."

Boyce now runs a mentoring program at the St Heliers Correctional Centre in Muswellbrook after he moved back to Tamworth, in 2013, where he lives with with wife Kate and daughter Zoey.

He helped out Luke Taylor one year as an assistant at Dungowan when he moved back before linking up with North Tamworth.

"I pulled the boots back on but the fitness level wasn't up to par," he recalled.

"But I did end up having a run with Norths in reserve grade in 2019.

"It was great playing under Brad. I thought I'd have a little run to lose a few kgs. Had a lot of fun and was great fun playing under Spitter.

"He's a great bloke and was great to play under. The type of coach you don't want to let down. I really enjoyed that year and then coached reserve grade last year. That was great too, trying to get the reggies to do their job and ready them for first grade.

"It was tough in reserve grade, too. They [first grade] had a hardcore group of players who were really tight knit and had won six premierships."

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That Boyce had the reserve graders ready to move up at any stage of that aborted last season is one reason why he's been handed the first grade job.

And he knows it will be even tougher this year in charge of the first grade side.

"I think the comp was the strongest it's been for years," he said of last season's first grade competition.

"Moree did a real good job coming back into the comp.

"Narrabri were strong and Kootingal have done an amazing job coming up from second division. They've done a great job building the club up to be threats in first grade and ladies league tag.

"They were going to give it a real good shake."

He said the elevation of Manilla into this season's first grade competition will be interesting as well.

"They have got the right man for the job in Mitch," he said of Manilla captain-coach Mitch Doring.

"He's a great player. They have a job to do."

Boyce's job is to take over the reins from some outstanding clubmen and continue the Bears push for more success.

But he will have to do it without a few players.

The talented Bailey Taylor and young gun Dan Kelly have left the club. Taylor has moved back to Muswellbrook to play with Denman in Group 21 whilst Kelly, an outstanding Bear junior, has moved to the Gold Coast to play with Tugun.

On the plus side one of the Bear juniors, Kobe Bone, has returned from his stint playing SG Ball with North Sydney.

"He's a massive gain for us," Boyce said.

"Great to have him back and step up with other juniors like Jake Bennett and Liam Ball."

The Bears have also been "talking to a few players outside the group" although nothing is concrete at this stage.

"We will concentrate on who we have got at the moment," Boyce said.

"We do have some quality players from reserve grade as well who are more than capable of stepping up."

The Bears started their pre-season training in November before a break over Christmas. They started back up on Tuesday night.

"We had a good hit out the other night," he said.

"We had 24 at training."

They are also preparing for trials against the Terrigal Sharks and maybe the Denman Devils to be played sometime in March.

The Bears have also added Civil Con to its major sponsor list and will be based at the Court House Hotel again.

Boyce is running the Tuesday and Thursday training sessions with new league tag coach Melissa Watson who is in her first stint.

She takes over from James Cooper, who will concentrate his time on first grade and his new job at Wests.