Steve Sutton will return to take the reins of the Cowra Magpies for the 2020 Group 10 season and while he admits this year's squad will be void of the sort of talent we've come to expect from the swoopers in recent years he's confident they'll run out with a "whole lot of self belief".
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Sutton last coached at Cowra in 2018 and helped the club to a grand final that season, the Magpies losing 12-10 to Bathurst Panthers at Sid Kallas Oval.
Things promised to go to the next level in 2019 with a swag of big-name recruits and a new coach in the form of Kurt Hancock, but the Magpies battled to live-up to the hype last winter.
A mixture of travelling players, changing work commitments and injury - namely the forced retirement of Josh Rainbow and the early-season absence of Jeremy Gordon - quashed Cowra's efforts, and to a large extent forced the club to rethink its recruitment and retention strategy leading into 2020.
A host of players have left the club throughout the off-season, with the only real notable additions to date St Pat's veteran Garry Reilly and former Magpie Desi Doolan, but Sutton is adamant their Group 10 rivals will rule out the black and whites at their own peril.
"My plan is to get the side fit and build moral," Sutton said.
I could see things might fall apart. I knew we'd lose a few players and I didn't want to leave the club in the lurch.
- Cowra mentor Steve Sutton on returning to the Magpies coaching job
"Any side loses guys like Jeremy (Gordon), Joey Bugg and Lee McClintock and it leaves a hole and no doubt people will think we'll be towards the bottom but let them think that. No expectation will sit well with us.
"We'll have a lot of locals, we'll work hard and play with a whole lot of self belief."
Sutton said he put his hand up to coach the club at the end of 2019.
"I could see things might fall apart. I knew we'd lose a few players and I didn't want to leave the club in the lurch. We'll go alright," he said, Logan Harris, Blake Tidswell and Jack Nobes shaping as key men for the Magpies in 2020.
Claude Gordon, Matt Naden, Lewis Dwyer and Bradyn Cassidy are Magpies, alongside Gordon, McClintock and Bugg, that won't appear in black and white in 2020.
"We've lost the bulk of our travellers," Sutton continued.
"We've lost talent and we'll rely on locals which will give a few opportunities to a few blokes but you could see it all went a bit pear-shaped with the travellers last year anyway.
"It worked okay in 2018 but we only had a few blokes coming from Bathurst and if we wanted they came over twice a week to train.
"Once we started to get a few from Dubbo it was too far."
Sutton said the club was still keen to add to its squad for 2020 with, as he puts it, "no easy games" in Group 10 any more.