Chiltern coach Luke Brookes has thought about stepping aside after two challenging years

The cancellation of the Tallangatta league season was a huge disappointment for the Swans, who finished second on the ladder and fancied their chances in finals.

Brookes admitted this year had been draining, on top of a football-free 2020, with endless phone calls and more questions than answers about COVID's impact on the competition.

But having seen the club take huge strides since he took over in 2018, the sense of unfinished business has left Brookes in a quandary.

"I've been talking to a few people and I've thought about stepping aside but, to be honest, it would be pretty hard to walk away from this group after the last two years," he said.

"I'm as invested as them.

"I keep selling them the story of how we're going to get to Sandy Creek, how we're going to do this and do that so it's pretty hard at the moment."

Chiltern matched the second-placed finish it achieved under Brookes in 2019.

"We only won four games in my first year so to go to 15 wins the next year and this year, to be 9-2, the club's come a long way," he said.

"We didn't get any big-name players, we got young blokes and built a club from the bottom up.

"It's a fantastic culture, the netballers and juniors are involved, everyone, so it's just a great place to be.

"We've had buy-in from the whole town.

"The last couple of years have definitely been hard work though.

"We all do it because we want to win but we haven't had the opportunity to do that over the last two years.

"I've spent a lot of time on the phone over the last couple of months and we don't have the answers.

"I was on the phone to (president) Tom Lappin pretty much daily, trying to get updates but we were all guessing towards the end, weren't we?

"It's not much fun but it is what it is.

"You put your hand up to coach the club and you take whatever comes your way.

"It's part of the job, I suppose.

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"We've got a really good group and I think we'll be around the mark for the next few years.

"We've created a club that people don't want to leave. It's been great.

"I'm probably the lucky one who gets a pat on the back but I'm only a little piece of what it's about.

"The players are the ones that have been driving it and hopefully they get their reward at some stage because they've put a lot of work in over the last three or four years.

"I feel for them, more than anything, that they haven't had the chance to get out to Sandy Creek and show everyone how far they have come."

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