There was a part of Evan Kellow that was uncertain.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
But ultimately his love of the club, whom he first laced up the boots for as a teenager in the 90s, won out.
Kellow is back on deck as Pirates' first grade coach as they look to chart a course back to the top of the Central North tree.
After last season taking on a co-coaching role with Doug Biffin and Mick Squires, he will this season be joined by Todd Pascoe.
Admitting that he underestimated how much time goes into coaching a first grade side, Kellow deliberated for a while whether or not to take on the job again.
It wasn't that he didn't want to coach, more he didn't feel he would be able to 100 per cent commit by himself.
It is a "pretty hard gig for one person" and he knew there would be times when he would have to be away with work. He is the regional manager of WestTrac's western operations, and covers from Albury to Moree and "everywhere in between."
"If you go away for a week or something you want to know that the ship's still being steered the same direction and everything's still happening the same way," he said.
"That was probably the biggest decision, just to make sure that somebody else can help out and make sure that it's all still happening when you're not there."
Enter Pascoe.
READ ALSO: Moree Bulls women to return to the field
It is in some ways a new beginning for Pirates with their three-year quest for an historic fifth-straight premiership ending in a preliminary finals exit.
Kellow believes they will be better for the lessons learnt amid last season's disappointment.
Having had a bit of time now to reflect on it all, he acknowledged that they probably didn't do enough to "to deserve winning it last year".
"I think there was just some small things that we didn't get right," he said.
One of the areas he highlighted they need to improve is their defence.
"Our defence wasn't great at times last year, so a lot more work on defence is already happening," he said.
"And then just probably settling on the squad. We really struggled, especially our backline, to settle. I think it probably wasn't till the last three rounds that we kept the same backline."
They were also on average a comparably younger team than through their four-peat, and probably didn't have that same collective know-how of how "to win those tough games".
Training officially now for just over a month, Kellow has been pleasantly surprised by the fitness of a lot of the players, and can already sense a real hunger among the playing group.
"Numbers wise we're probably not where I'd like us to be, we're still a bit hit and miss with getting everyone at the one time. But it is early, and there's still commitments with cricket and work and all the rest of the stuff going on," he said.
There is still seven weeks until the competition kicks off, with Pirates set to open their campaign at home to Scone on Saturday April 15.
They will have a few games between now and then, starting with the Armidale Knockout on March 11.
