Miles, who returned to his home club from North Albury two years ago, saw the Spiders finish 10th in the Hume league in his first season in charge.

He praised the hunger and belief within the group but, with a young family of his own, wants to ensure Howlong's players receive the same level of leadership he demanded during his time in the Ovens and Murray.

"There's the potential to bring in a co-coach if we can find the right person, the right character with similar values," Miles said.

"We don't need to go on a big recruiting spree, if we could share the load in terms of doing things professionally and giving the job what it needs.

"There have been challenges with looking after players over the course of the pandemic.

"I've always had high expectations of my coaches in terms of how much they need to give and I guess you have those same expectations for yourself.

"I had enormous support from my assistant coaches, Toby Pargeter and Clint Brunnenmeyer, as well as the committee, but I'm willing to do it (get a co-coach) if that's what the group needs to go to the next level.

"The group's responded well to what we're trying to build and the numbers at training have been good so it's not about bringing in a fresh voice but more to share the expectations and become even more professional.

"If there's an opportunity to get another character with a similar mindset and similar values, then we'll look at that."

Injury limited Miles to seven games while Melbourne-based Ash Murray was only able to make nine appearances as the Spiders finished 3-13 for the year.

However, the form of Hamish Clark delighted Miles and there were promising signs from youngsters Ben Baker and Sasha Newnham while the likes of Matt McDonald, Blake Williams and Dylan Cook helped set the tone

"There's a really good feel within the group and there's a lot of belief in what we can achieve," Miles said.

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"It was a tough draw but that benefited us.

"Every club had challenges, whether they were winning or losing, but we had a lot of support at the footy club.

"The club's been fantastic, the group's in a good space, enjoying each other's company and I really feel like we're building towards next year.

"There's a good balance. We've got a lot of young guys and the reserve grade were looking to play finals so that would have been good for their development.

"We've got some older guys, so a good mixture of experience and younger players coming through."

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