Two Merrivale coaches hoping to lead their teams to premiership glory have re-signed for the 2020 Warrnambool and District league season.
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Third-year senior football coach Jason Rowan has extended for a fourth season and first-year A grade mentor Carly Peake will return for a second year.
Their teams play in qualifying finals on Saturday at Mortlake's DC Farran Oval.
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Rowan's men face Nirranda and Peake's netballers play Dennington.
Playing coach Rowan said the club was moving in the right direction on and off the field.
"Since I've been down there, it's just been a really good environment to be in," he said.
The full-forward said the Tigers went through a rebuild during his first two seasons in charge, after many players either moved on or retired.
He said he discussed his decision with assistant coach Matt Brown, who has also re-committed for next year.
"We had a really good chat and decided there's definitely some good times ahead for the Merrivale Football Netball Club," he said.
Rowan said it would be great to have Brown by his side again.
"When I first had the opportunity to go down the coaching path, he was the first bloke I had in mind," he said.
He said they would like to finish what they had started at Tigerland.
"To have him on board makes my job a lot easier," he said.
Rowan said he trusted Brown with the Tigers' bench.
"I can focus on just playing football," he said.
Rowan also discussed his decision with his wife Bec.
"To have her support is a big thing going into another year as well," he said.
Rowan, who has 2-year-old Freddie and seven-month-old Daisy, said Bec told him to seize the opportunity.
Since taking the reins, Rowan has focused on developing young players.
"We've been really big on giving kids opportunities," he said.
He said the Tiger cubs were the future of the club.
The Tigers mentor said his side would go into Saturday's qualifying final with three under 18s players.
Those players are Tate Porter, Ollie Doukas and Tyler Stephens.
He said they were the type of players that could play 250 games for the club.
Peake, who is surrounded by family at Merrivale, is more than happy to go around again.
"In all honesty, I don't see myself anywhere else," she said.
"I intend to stick around Merrivale quite a while."
Peake, who is also taking the A reserve team again next year, would like to find a co-coach to help her lead the reserve team.
"I'm hoping to get a co-coach for the reserves girls and have that same message through both grades," she said.
Peake, who crossed from Hampden league club Koroit during the off-season, said it had been great at Tigerland.
"I've got a great group of girls, it's a great club and there's great behind the scenes work," she said.
Peake said her team was a work in progress and she hoped to go bigger and better next year.
"Fortunately our team has exceeded more than expectations, finishing in second (position)," she said.
"But there's still so much room for improvement."
Peake, who has won six senior premierships playing with Koroit, has had a decorated career.
She was co-coach with Jess O'Connor in Koroit's grand final win over Cobden in 2018.
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