Corowa-Rutherglen's proud link to North Melbourne played a key role in snaring highly-credentialled coach Peter German.
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While speculation had been strong for weeks about German, the club only made the two-year deal official on Saturday.
"We were looking for a coach that had to meet our key criteria and Peter ticked all the boxes," delighted Roos' president Graham Hosier said.
"Peter has had a decorated career as a player, coach and assistant coach at various levels, including the highest level of AFL.
"He has an enormous capacity to teach our players what is required to succeed not only in football, but in all facets of their life.
"He is a strong communicator and is looking forward to engaging the entire community. "
The 55-year-old played 185 games for North Melbourne over 11 seasons from 1984-1994.
"Peter has a close association with the Corowa area through friendships with the Longmires and Chandlers," Hosier said.
"Peter also played at North Melbourne with a number of our former champions including Mark O"Donoghue, Brett McKenzie, Paul Bartlett, John Longmire and Jeff Chandler.
"He loves the area and hopes to retire here when his football journey comes to an end."
Longmire joined North in 1988, playing 200 games, including a premiership in his final game in 1999.
Like Longmire with the Sydney Swans, German has spent an extensive time coaching in the AFL as an assistant at Hawthorn, West Coast and Fremantle, while also working as a development coach at the Western Bulldogs.
He also led Subiaco to two premierships in the WAFL (2004, 2006) and was coach of the year at Casey Scorpions in the VFL in 2009, while he also coached at Williamstown and Coburg at State level.
In fact, German's coaching background is one of the finest the league has seen in its 127-year history.
He is hoping to move to the region by early November, at the latest.
"Peter has already started contacting our existing players," Hosier said.
"We look forward to working with him to shape our list into what it needs to be to become extremely competitive."
The Roos haven't played finals since 2014, but will be hoping German's expertise and experience will see the club finally snap what will be a seven-year absence from the top five next season.
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It won't be easy though as many of the top five clubs from the last season will have similar lists in 2021.
The 2020 season was cancelled due to COVID-19 with officials citing the lack of crowds and the number of travellers from Melbourne.
