LAVINGTON'S Simon Curtis isn't fazed by the prospect of stepping into the "unknown" when he leads the Panthers for a fourth season next year.
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Curtis expects the Ovens and Murray landscape to change dramatically following the coronavirus pandemic and is looking forward to meeting the challenges head-on.
"I'm proud to represent the Panthers again in season 2021," Curtis said.
"With the situation right now, there's still some unknowns around what the 2021 season will look like.
"In terms of what we can control, we will prepare to the best of our ability and I know that now the group has tasted that success they will be hungry for it again."
Curtis guided Lavington to its first premiership since 2005 last year with his on-field dominance playing a huge part in the Panthers' success.
Lavington president Mark Sanson said Curtis's signature had been a priority for the club.
"SImon has done a fantastic job in his three years as senior coach at Lavington," Sanson said.
"He leads from the front and has played consistently outstanding football."
Sanson believes the Panthers have had few better players than Curtis since he arrived at the club following a glittering career with Ainslie.
"A great leader, he's a fantastic player, he's a magnificent user of the ball and he has a penetrating kick, he really sets the game up," Sanson said.
"I wouldn't (definitively) say the best player, but he's certainly in the best few players we've ever had."
Curtis said the abandonment of the 2020 season had given him a chance to reset.
"So this period without the noise that comes from football has been great for the other areas of life that probably don't always get the attention they should," he said.
"It's been an opportunity to reset and work on other things, but it's also been an opportunity to revisit the good things that come from sport like connection with and development of others.
"Personally I've missed that."
Lavington has kept its departures to a minimum since 2019 with Did Simpson medallist Shaun Mannagh the biggest loss to the VFL.
Nico Sedgwick and Nick Perryman are among the inclusions.
"We were really mindful of building the list in a way which was sustainable and were able to achieve that by targeting individuals from lower levels who had the attributes we wanted at Lavington," he said.
"We've had a few move on from that premiership side as you always will have, but we also made some fantastic signings last year, so we're really happy with what we've got in terms of a list.
"We believe our game plan works and we are now able to simply tweak it."