The Saints announced this week that Brady Cheshire and Daniel Finn will join Hancock in guiding the blue and whites’ premiership push.

The goal is to prepare Finn and Cheshire to take on more responsibility in the future so Hancock can concentrate on coaching representative teams.

“We have been talking with Brady about doing this for a couple of years now,” Hancock said.

“Daniel, obviously he’s progressed through the ranks and he’s been interested in coaching for awhile.

“He did reserve grade last season and under 18s the season before, so he’s well respected at the club.

“The idea is to give them that experience over the next couple of years and they can become real assets for the club. The other reason is over the next couple of seasons I want to do more rep stuff.”

While the Saints will not resume training for the new season until January, the new coaching group are already making plans.

Some of the initiatives that will be adopted is weighing players before and after games to help monitor their health and an extended video review of matches each Wednesday.

There will also be a focus on plyometric training as the Saints look to improve their explosive power.

“I’m always looking at new ways as a coach to keep players fresh and motivated,” Hancock said.

“It’s going on four years next year for me at Pat’s, which is equal to my longest stint in one place as coach, but you’ve got to keep adapting to keep the players fresh mentally.”

Just as Pat’s will have a new coaching group in 2017, they will also have some new faces on their playing roster.

Cheshire will be joined in the front row by Greg Behan, the hard working prop with Group 10 representative experience making the move from Bathurst Panthers.

“Greg will be the first big body we’ve had since Zac Merritt and he will really help to take the pressure off Brady,” Hancock said.

“Brady has pretty much been taking on the other forward packs by himself, so having Greg in there will help him out and probably help to make him a better footballer.

“Those guys in behind him like Andy Adams and Jack Mackey, hopefully it brings those guys on a bit too.

“Greg does all the tough stuff and he will be good to have there when we need a big body to roll forward.” 

The other new signing for the Saints is utility Matt Ranse, who played for New Era Cup grand finalists Blackheath in this year.

Ranse also played in the under 21s Western Division team which Hancock coached.

“We played him on the wing for Western and he scored a couple of tries for us this season, he scored a couple in the match against Italy,” Hancock said.

“We moved him to the wing after playing in the halves … he’s the type of guy who can play anywhere from fullback to the second row.

“His versatility is second to none, he’s an outstanding defender and his fitness is just outstanding as well. 

“His commitment is great and he plays with that real high level energy.”