Pyke, 22, is the man charged with leading the division one side to another finals berth after taking over from Nick van Rooy.

The goalkeeper, who took his first training session on Tuesday night, said the Rangers were eager to atone for their 2-1 loss to Ballarat Red Devils in last season’s decider.

But he warned key departures would make reaching such lofty heights a tough ask.

“It was a bit disappointing to get to the final game of the season and lose in such close circumstances but a bit of a motivator as well to go one better,” Pyke said.

“With the team we have this year it will be more challenging. 

“Nick might not be playing and we’re losing juniors.

“We’ve lost Michael Mullins and Tom Pyers, who are playing for Ballarat, and Liam Burns and Oscar Bishop have moved up to Queensland. 

“They would have been handy additions coming off the bench.”

Pyke said the Rangers would still have a strong core group, including match-winners Dechlan Picken and Martin van Rooy.

Van Rooy won his second Ballarat District Soccer Association league best and fairest last year, aged just 20.

Picken, still a teenager, was second. 

“It’s good to have them because with an experienced pair like them we should be able to build around them in the centre,” Pyke said.

“We are losing Eli Slater and he played in the centre last year when Marty moved forward.

“I think he’s going to uni so it’s a shame to lose him.”

Pyke said he was excited to take on the Rangers’ top job. 

He said he’d always had an interest in coaching and thought he’d “take the bull by the horns”. “Nick is stepping down and last year he said to me ‘Pykey will be my natural successor’ and at the time I thought ‘righto’,” he said.

Pyke wants to put the Rangers through a rigorous pre-season to ensure they’re ready come round one.

Warrnambool Rangers’ season will start in mid-April — a complete draw is not yet available — with Pyke keen to enter the team in a seven-a-side Ballarat tournament in March as preparation.

Two practice games against a Mount Gambier outfit, one at home and one away, are also in the pipeline.

Pyke said the club, which also includes women’s, men’s reserves and junior sides, was eager to have strong representation among all grades and was searching for players.

“The women’s have really good numbers, they’re up to 16,” he said.

“Then our reserves losing a few juniors who would have stepped up is disappointing, but we are hoping to get a few numbers. The reserves are where we’ll be at our thinnest and our under 17s are going to be thin.”

Pyke was a latecomer to soccer, first playing the game at 16, but he quickly adapted, finding a niche in the net.

“A lot of guys who play there started before they were 10 years old,” he said.

“I came to soccer late because I had friends in secondary school who had played since they were younger and I followed them into the sport.”

Sport plays a big role in Pyke’s life — cricket, football and volleyball are also part of his jam-packed calendar. 

Cricket commitments with Warrnambool and District Cricket Association division one side Wesley-CBC consume his summers.

And he juggled Hampden Football Netball League matches (he played reserves for North Warrnambool Eagles) with soccer games in past years.

He knows Australian Rules might have to be put on the back-burner this year after taking on the Rangers’ coaching gig.