JAMIE LIND is confident that Merewether have the ingredients and motivation to win back-to-back Hunter Rugby premierships - a feat the Greens last achieved in 1979-80.
However, Lind won't be at the helm after handing the controls to Tony Munro and taking a well-earned rest.
Merewether out-hustled and out-bustled Hamilton 19-7 in the grand final, bring an end to the Hawks run of five straight premiership.
"I made the decision before the grand final," said Lind, who was voted Hunter Rugby coach of the year. "It turned out to be mission accomplished but even if we didn't get the result, I still felt we achieved a fair bit.
"You want to leave the team in a better place than when you got it. The coaching staff that have been managing the playing group for the past few years have done that.
"Because we didn't have finals for so long, we didn't have that full stop behind the end of a season. To get one premiership, we trained for about 100 weeks. We did 20 in 2020 when the season was called off [due to COVID], 40 last year [before COVID halted the season] and 40 again this year. There was no chance to have a break and reset. I just need a break for a while."
It had been 11 years since Merewether, with Lind at hooker and Munro as coach, were premiers. Only twice in their history have they won consecutive premierships.
"Michael Dan is moving to France but the rest of the squad are all good to go. They start training next week," Lind said. "Now they know what it takes to win. When you don't know how to win, you grab every idea under the sun to try and work out what the key is. There is a good opportunity to continue on as Hamo did when they got on a roll."
Munro was part of Lind's support staff last season. Steve Barretto (scrum) and Blake Creighton (backs) have been joined by Jay Strachan.
Lind won't step away totally.
"I will do a bit with a couple of the junior representative teams and there are a few infrastructure projects we are working on with the club," he said. "I need a bit of a break but if, down the track, they need someone, I will put my hand up to do it again."
Elsewhere in Hunter Rugby, Luke Cunningham will continue at the helm of Maitland. At Wanderers premiership-winning second grade coach Trevor Hefren has taken the reins from Dan Beckett, who stood down.
