Nick Johnstone is excited about his return to Allansford.
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The two-time J.A Esam Medallist signed as joint assistant coach with the Cats for the 2019 Warrnambool and District league season.
Johnstone, who coached Heywood to premiership glory in the South West District league this month, said he wanted to help his former club climb the ladder.
"Premiership success is obviously the main goal, but there is a lot of things we have to do before that," he said.
"Obviously this year was a building block for them and now we can hopefully push a bit higher and I’d be aiming to get back into the five for sure.
“It’s not going to happen overnight obviously, but all we can do is just keep improving each year and like I said hopefully get into finals this year.”
The 28-year-old said he looked forward to working closely with senior coach Ben Price and the club’s promising young list.
“I have had a few good chats with him already and from the boys I talk to they have said he is really taking the club in a good direction,” he said.
“So I am excited by the early signs and there are blokes there now that are in their early 20s who have stayed around and grown, so the future is looking good.”
Price said he was equally excited about working with the star utility.
“We watched him fairly closely with how he worked with his group of players and at what he could bring back to our club,” he said.
“To see what he could do for a club and way led a group of men with the utmost respect for him and the way he communicated and coached them was fantastic and he got the ultimate reward.”
Price, who heads into his second season as coach, explained why Johnstone’s return to the Allansford Recreation Reserve could have a flow-on effect.
“My main aim when I got to the club was to get as many Allansford people back as possible,” he said.
“There was quite a big exodus a few seasons ago, so I wanted to find out why and get them back and recreate the environment they created initially.
“Nick is the sort of bloke who attracts people and guys just levitate to him because he is such a great bloke.”
Johnstone previously played five seasons for the Cats between 2012 and 2016.