Senior men's coach Steven Chater and senior women's counterpart Josh O'Farrell will go around again after promising returns in 2016.

But it wasn't a simple matter to get Chater to commit for a second year.

The club turned to the St Pats veteran when options were running out nearing the beginning of the 2016 season, and though Chater enjoyed the top job, he had reservations about coaching for a second year.

“I really only took the job on after Alex (Vaskovic) couldn't do it this year,” he said.

“Originally I wasn't going to do it again if there was someone who could step up, but the club came to me and said they were really happy with the direction we've taken this year.

“I think it would be a little remiss of me not to take the second year.”  

After hauling themselves off the bottom of the table thanks to the efforts of Harry Mitchell, Carter Love, Jordan Mahoney and Curtis Iverson, Chater said the club was now on-track to challenge for a top-eight finish.

St Pats finished ninth in 2016, with five wins, three draws and 14 losses.

While not overly concerned with recruiting from outside the club, Chater said they would still keep their eyes peeled for players with experience to assist the aforementioned young stars.

“I don't consider myself someone who runs around trying to get players from outside the club,” he said.

“But we'll keep an eye out if anyone is interested, we're heading in the right direction, we're not on the bottom of the ladder, we're improving.

“I'll continue to work with our core group, show some faith in the kids who had a bit of faith in me throughout this season.” 

O'Farrell, along with senior women's star player Claire Mahoney, guided St Pats into the finals on a 10-2-10 record, where they suffered a 3-2 quarter final loss to eventual Cup winners Albury City. 

Consistency would be key for the team next season, O'Farrell said, after putting some early-season struggles behind them late in 2016.

“We can certainly improve our consistency, we used a lot of young players this year,” he said.

“They'll be much better off for the run.

“We really need to make sure we get going from round one.

“It took time to find our feet this season, what with a new structure and a new coach. 

“Next season we should be able to really improve on what we did this year.”

St Pats finished seventh on the senior women's table.