THEY'RE a leadership team which has helped the Bathurst Bushrangers to premiership glory and it is the desire to win another AFL Central West flag together which has lured Matt Archer and Tim Hunter back to coach in 2022.
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The experienced duo had contemplated stepping down at the conclusion of last season, one which was cut short and saw no premiers declared due to the COVID-19 lockdown of regional NSW.
But it was the way that season ended - just before the finals series that could begin - which lured Hunter and Archer back as co-coaches of the men's tier one outfit once more.
"We were probably umming and aahhing last season whether we were going to do it again or not, but I think just the fact we didn't get a result at the end of it, being the competitive people were are, we couldn't let it lay like that," Archer said.
"So we've decided to go one more year and we've definitely made that joke that we're still reigning premiers, we went back-to-back."
The duo enjoyed their first premiership triumph together in 2017, Archer one of the coaches of that Bushrangers Outlaws outfit while Hunter was captain.
That relationship saw the duo put their hands up to coach the Bushrangers Rebels in 2019 and on the back of seven consecutive wins to finish their campaign, that side was crowned the men's premiers.
In 2020 when the men's competition was split into two tiers, Archer and Hunter led the Bushrangers' top side in an undefeated campaign.
Last year the coaching duo returned for a third year together and the Bushies finished the battle for the minor premiership in second behind the Bathurst Giants.
A bulk of that squad which won eight of its 12 games are back on deck and have already begun training. It's got Archer excited about what lies ahead.
"Everyone is super keen to get back into it and those pre-Christmas runs and then on Tuesday everyone's skills were up and the intent was there. I think everyone's itching to get back into it," Archer said.
"I think Scott Brown is one guy we'll lose and there are question marks over Nathan Swards, I think he's going to move away at some point through the year, when that will happen we're not sure.
"But we've got a lot of new recruits already. Nathan Smith, he played all his junior footy at Pennant Hills, he played that last game against Dubbo for us last year and he's a big tall centre-half-forward.
"He's an absolute gun so he's a really good pick up for us.
"We've got other uni kids who trained with us last year but were travelling back to Wagga, but they're going to stick around this year and play with us.
"Then you take into account Tim [Hunter] only played one game last year and he'll be back, Ben Horn didn't play last year because he was still recovering from an ACL, so he's back.
"So we've got a fair few ins that will well and truly cover the losses. It's looking really positive actually."
While no draw for the 2022 season has yet been released, the Bushrangers are training at George Park 2 each Tuesday and Thursday from 6pm.
Anyone interested in playing with Bushrangers is invited to attend.
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