Meade, 25, and Robertson, 33, have taken over from Mel Harrop, who parted ways with the Warrnambool and District league club after one season.

The playing coaches were part of the Cats side which rose to sixth in 2014 after years battling away near the bottom of the ladder.

Meade, a midcourter/shooter, joined the club last season and took on the captaincy after growing up at Hampden league club Terang Mortlake.

Robertson was also among a host of new faces last season. She crossed from Mininera and District league club Penshurst and impressed at goal keeper.

Both coached lower-grade sides at their home clubs before accepting the top jobs with the Cats.

“We’ve both had similar kinds of upbringing with netball in that we’ve been successful in juniors and had really strong senior-level coaches,” Meade said.

“I’ve obviously been coached by Megan Titmus (at Terang Mortlake), who is well known around the district.

“You’ve also got Sarah, who was coached by Natalie O’Dea. She’s been pretty successful up that way.

“We haven’t done too much coaching ourselves but if we can take a bit from both those coaches and put it into one style, it could be successful.”

Robertson said she put her hand up to coach because of how much she enjoyed her first season at Allansford.

“The motivation was to give back to the club and they’ve given us the opportunity,” she said.

“I’ve only been at Allansford for a year but really enjoyed my time there. I thought, what better way to give back than to coach.

“It was a great first season, just not quite enough to make finals. It’s a great group of girls who play out there, it’s a real family club.”

Allansford was in finals contention for much of 2014 but missed finals after Merrivale improved late and Kolora-Noorat upset Panmure in round 18.

Meade and Robertson agreed the sixth-placed finish was encouraging but disappointing. They were confident of keeping the group together.

“We’re definitely hoping to make finals and be a really competitive side next year,” Robertson said.

“We’re hoping to pick up a few recruits which will make the team a bit stronger.

“We missed out on finals by two points. It was a little bit disappointing but it will make us work harder.”