The experienced midfielder took Hotspurs to the brink of this year's cup finals, falling short by one point.

Townsend led the side to five victories from the last seven games to finish outside the top eight by the barest of margins.

"We changed the way we played and took 10 weeks or so to hit the ground, but we really played well in the second half of the year and just missed out on finals," Townsend said.

"Hopefully we can take that momentum into the start of this year."

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He admitted he found coaching and playing difficult at times during his first campaign as senior coach, largely due to the club's depth in the midfield.

"It will be much the same this season whether I'm in or out because we've got quite a few quality midfielders," Townsend said.

"The likes of James Eggleston coming back this year and having a run adds another midfielder into the mix and it potentially pushes me out of the squad anyway.

"It's a good headache to have as a coach."

Townsend is keen to set the bar higher and at least finish one position better in 2020.

"We still aim to make finals," he said.

"Obviously we haven't been there for a few years, but the way we finished last year, if we can play like that throughout the whole season, a few teams might be a bit more worried.

"We're keeping it pretty casual up until Christmas, but we're still getting down to have a kick and we're seeing a lot of numbers, so it's great signs for things to come.

"There's some younger guys coming through pushing for spots as well. We used a few of them last year and they held their own."

Hotspurs president Brad Howard said the club was keen to have Townsend on board again, but had to finalise a few details before making the decision.

"He was always in the mix, but his partner is giving birth in April and we wanted to make sure we covered off the personal things he needed to happen," Howard said.

"If he needs time off or whatever needs to be in place for that to happen, we wanted to make sure he had the assistance that was required to get him back on board.

"There's still a few senior people in the group that will help him out and he wants to continue playing seniors as well."

Howard is confident Townsend can build on what he started this year.

"It's a really good group of guys and he wants to be a part of that," he said.

"He really got them gelling towards the end of the year and we would have finished fourth or fifth if our last half of the season reflected in the first half.

"Hopefully we can continue that momentum with the squad we've got and add a few more to go with it."

Captain Luke Dahl is a key loss at Aloysius Park as he relocates to Geelong for university.

Dahl won the club's best and fairest and finished as leading goal-scorer.