THEY'VE named a coach, now it's time to build a squad - the Bathurst Giants have made clear their intent to form a second senior men's team for the 2021 AFL Central West season.
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Coming off the back of their most successful season since joining the senior ranks - both the tier one men's and women's teams qualified for their respective grand finals - the Giants are looking to step things up a notch.
In anticipation of forming a third senior outfit, Andrew Collins has been named as the club's 2021 senior men's tier two coach.
"Reddo [Collins] has been around footy for a long time, he's a good club man, his family is involved in it, all his kids play. It makes a lot of sense," Giants president Darryl Macauley said.
"It's really good for him to put his hand up and I know he'll make a good coach because he's coached in juniors before. He's got a good football brain and it will work in well with a senior team."
The squad that Macauley hopes will be assembled for Collins to guide is likely to include members of the Giants' 2020 premiership winning under 17s as well as those who got game time with the tier one outfit this year.
The Giants believe that with those players, plus some new recruits, it will give them the numbers for two men's outfits.
"That was our desire last season but for a number of reasons and perspectives that didn't eventuate. But we're quite confident at the Giants we will be having two senior men's teams next year," Macauley said.
"We say goodbye to a number of the 17s who have graduated from last season and their coach Brad Broes, I believe he's going to be pulling on the jumper.
"They're trying to recruit a lot of those players for the second tier competition, some of them may break into the first tier side as well.
"Then towards then end of the year we were in a position, because the numbers in tier one were a bit restricted as you could only have 16 on field and three on the bench, where we did have a number of players who had played throughout the year who didn't get a run in the finals.
"Hopefully with the second tier, they'll form the benchmark of that and hopefully be able to get a game week in, week out."
Naturally the priority will be to have a strong first grade squad to work under returning coaches Mark Kennedy and Shane Broes in pursuit of the top tier premiership.
But Macauley feels in naming Collins as tier two coach, it shows the club is serious about adding another side to its ranks.
"The big thing is obviously the make up of our first tier team and who comes back ... but we're reasonably confident and excited about having a second tier team," he said.
"We want to communicate we are confident, if you've got structures in place then somebody who might be on the fringe and not be sure about it can say 'Well look they've already got a coach dedicated to that and I'll be a little bit more dedicated to that'."
If the Giants are able to form a second senior men's team, it will be another step in the impressive rise of the club.
It began in 2014 with three junior sides, while this season there were senior men's, senior women's youth girls, under 12s, under 14s, under 17s and a host of enthusiastic Auskickers.
