Davies has been joint coach of the Wombats with long-time player and mentor Corey Carver, who has stepped away from coaching and will this year be part of the selection committee.
The reigning McNamara medallist, Davies, will be looking to add to the midfield stocks at the club with key playmakers James Ross and Zac Cerrone making the move to Kyabram in Goulburn Valley League this year.
Club president Rod O’Neill said while the loss of Ross and Cerrone would be felt, he expected the close connection of the club coach with the Northern Territory Football League to have an impact on playing personnel.
“Tom is friends with a lot of the boys at the NT Thunder and St Mary’s. We expect to have many players for at least part of the season, including Nick Yarran and Shannon Rioli,” O’Neill said.
Yarran has had an outstanding season with St Mary’s. He won the league’s premier media award for his efforts.
Rioli is a 200-plus gamer with St Mary’s and former captain of the club. He is the younger brother of Hawthorn great Cyril.
O’Neill said being a senior coach was a natural progression for Davies.
Brad Tinning is the Wombats’ reserves coach and Michael Mott the under 18 mentor.
O’Neill said losing Cerrone and Ross, who finished runner-up and third behind Davies in the best-and-fairest, would be a blow — but allow for the progression of under-age players.
The team has also lost Logan Demase, who has relocated to Queensland.
“It is challenging with Kyabram, Tatura and Tongala all going pretty well,’’ he said.
“We have recruited Nick McAuliffe as a key defender, from Undera.
“The biggest thing for us is developing our kids, we have won the last two premierships, in 2018 and 2019, and five or six of those kids are playing in the seniors.
“Four of them played in the side last year, which was very strong.”
Lancaster will open its season on Sunday, April 3 when it returns the favour by playing Girgarre on a sabbath.
“They played a Sunday at our ground a couple of years ago. Our first home game is the second round against Rushworth,” he said.
O’Neill said he expected the team to be in the top six again.
“We don’t have a gauge on the other clubs yet, but we are confident in our playing stocks,” he said.
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