Ashley Connick has been reappointed coach of Sandhurst for the 2021 BFNL season.
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Connick made a good impression in his first year with the Dragons in 2019 as he led the Dragons to fifth place.
A strong off-season recruiting campaign had the Dragons well-placed for 2020, but their premiership hopes were skittled by the COVID-19 pandemic.
"I canvased a few of the players a few weeks ago to see how they were feeling and to make sure they wanted me to do it again,'' Connick said.
"I wasn't interested in doing it if the playing group was just going to roll into the season without being really keen to achieve something.
"Everything came back really positive and we can't wait to get back into training."
The Dragons have lost class midfielder Andrew Collins (Bridgewater) and young key forward Will Holt (Wedderburn), while defender Josh Hann looks set to sign with Central Murray Football League club Kerang.
Connick admitted it wasn't ideal to lose the trio, but he was confident the Dragons had the stock to take another step forward in 2021.
The return of premiership defender James Coghlan and the arrival of classy midfielder Nick Waterson headlined a good crop of recruits last off-season.
They'll stay at the club for 2021 and the club hopes to attract a couple more before the start of pre-season training.
"We think we're still in front compared to when we played out last game (2019 elimination final),'' Connick said.
"With James Coghlan coming back, Nick Waterson into the side, Jayden Jones and a host of young players we think we're in a good place.
"You don't want to lose anyone, but Andy (Collins) was finding it difficult with his body and his plan was to always spend his last year or two at Bridgewater.
"We would have loved to have had a fit and firing Andy Collins, but we wish him well at Bridgewater.
"Josh looks like going to Kerang and Holty is going back to Wedderburn, but that looks like all we'll lose at this stage.
"We'll keep a close eye on what's going to happen with the VFL with guys like Lachlan Tardrew, Cooper Jones and Ben Worme. That's an unknown at the moment.
"We think we would have improved from 2019 by the time we play round one next year."
With Holt moving on, Connick said the Dragons plan to use club favourite Matt Thornton as a deep forward in 2021.
"We've been looking at playing Bear (Thornton) at full-forward,'' Connick said.
"I think that's where he's best suited now. He's a big option for us. If Cooper (Jones) hangs around then he'll play centre half-forward and we've got some creative smalls to play in the forward line as well.
"We're pretty well placed."
North Bendigo HDFNL premiership coach Rob Bennett will remain Connick's assistant.
"Rob was always going to get coaching offers, and I'm sure he did, but he was really keen to stay on board with us,'' Connick said.
"He's really enjoyed the time he's had with the club."
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