Cornishes commit to one more season together in Young

The news came after the youngest of the brothers, Nick, accepted the captain-coach role just one year after he moved to Young and signed on with the Cherrypickers. He will replace Adam Hall, who coached the side on-and-off for seven years between 2001 and this season.

"It got brought up just after halfway through the season, so I've had a while to think about it," Nick said.

"I spoke to Mitchell and Tyler about it and we had a big discussion. I was a little bit surprised that they asked me, but I was definitely happy to take the role on. It's an exciting challenge, and I haven't done it before."

Because of his younger brother's promotion, Mitch confirmed that he and Tyler, who live in Goulburn but commute to Young for training and games, would play on in 2022 to have another crack at the finals campaign that the team was denied this season due to the COVID-19 lockdowns.

"We've decided not too long ago that we'd spend another year up there," Mitch said.

"It was announced a few weeks ago that Nicholas got the captain/coaching job. We didn't get to play finals [in 2021], and I think we were sitting in a really good spot to take out the competition.

"So those two things combined, I think we owed it to ourselves to give it another crack over there and repay the faith the Cherrypickers showed in us."

After a strong year in 2021, the Cherrypickers finished third on the ladder when lockdowns forced the cancellation of the Group 9 competition.

Since he accepted the coaching role, Nick has immersed himself in study to prepare as well as he can for his first season in charge. Though his knowledge of the game and its tactics is excellent, he has reached out to old coaches and contacts for advice about the aspects of leadership with which he is less familiar, such as coordinating training sessions and man-management.

This, he said, was because he'd "rather be over-prepared than under-prepared", and is aiming to make sure the side has its best possible chance of securing its first premiership in decades.

The idea of making amends for the cancelled finals campaign last year, Nick added, was "massive" motivation for him and the team.

"Especially because we beat the top team the week before the comp finished," he said. "We were just starting to find form and hit our straps, everyone was starting to click a bit better.

"There were also a couple of boys that were thinking about having the next year off or retiring. For me, it was a blessing in disguise because those guys want to come back and have a crack at it this year and win the comp."

According to Nick, Tyler confirmed his intent to stay with the Cherrypickers before Mitchell did, which led to some anxiety for the incoming coach.

"I was very excited to hear that Mitchell was staying, because I had kind of ruled him out," Nick said.

"A halfback is a really hard position to fill, even fullbacks you can find around, but a very good half that understands the game is such a key role. So hearing that he was coming back relieved a lot of pressure.

"I was probably going to have to move Tyler into the halves [from fullback], because he's played there a lot and understands it."

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