The former Albury United star has been involved with the club since its inception, spending time as an assistant coach and mentoring the under 20s, and will take over from the outgoing James Coutts.

Jones will be a non-playing coach and has signed a one-year deal.

“It’s a massive opportunity to broaden my coaching,” he said.

“The club is in a really healthy position and I’ve been working with the club since it began, so I think it’s about continual improvement.

“James has done a fantastic job and I’ll be looking to strengthen that and continue to set high standards in everything I do.

“As a coach, if you set the bar high with your own work ethic and the way you do things, it’s a lot easier to demand that from the players.

“I know the senior core group of players really well and I really want to coach that group.

“There’s a lot of talent, but along with the talent, these guys are really committed and not afraid of hard work.”

Jones said he will definitely look to attract more talent from the AWFA competition to Murray.

“That’s why this club was created,” he said.

“There’s certainly the talent out there and I’ll be looking to speak to a number of players from AWFA.

“I think that coach at Myrtleford (Matt Park) is pretty handy, but I’m not sure if we’ll get him because they might make him the mayor out there after his couple of years.

“I played a number of years at Albury United and was lucky enough to be part of a very successful era there.

“I guess I was moulded by the people that were in the side whether they knew it or not.

“Guys like Cade Webb, Paul Hayes, my brother Mitch, Matt Campbell, Scott Kidd were a number of influential characters there, which helped mould me firstly into the player and now the coach that I am.

“Something that really rings true with me is developing culture and the character of the individuals, so they’re the things I’d like to bring to Murray.”

Jones added that there’s no point being a coach if you don’t want to improve on the year before.

“We’d like to continue to climb the ladder,” Jones said.

“Last season we showed it not just externally, but even internally we proved to ourselves that we really belong in this league.”

Murray corporate director Pedro Afonso said Jones’ credentials made it quite an easy field to narrow down.

“There was quite a vast array of applicants that applied for the job, but obviously Elliot’s credentials and being a local, he fit the culture and the psyche of the club,” Afonso said.

“It’s testament to the NPL framework and having it in our region means we have a stepping stone where the talented players, coaches and officials can seek more and grow their careers in a professional environment.

“Being a local, we’d like to see Elliot coach for five years, we don’t have any concerns or fears about that, but it’s a one year at a time prognosis.”

Jones will look to re-sign the core group of the players at the club from next week, before pre-season training commences in November.

Early indications are that the majority of the senior players will stay on.