Powell, runner-up for the 2019 Morris medal, has been a man in demand since the end of the season but he's now set to form a formidable combination alongside new recruit Jordan Harrington in the Bombers midfield.

A three-time premiership player with Albury, Powell returned to Dederang in 2020 having played around 80 games there as a youngster and his decision to stay comes as a huge boost to Bombers coach Damien Jones.

"I always had high hopes that he was going to stay at Dederang," Jones said.

"It's his home club and he does want to have some success there.

"The way we've recruited, with the guys we've brought in, I think he can see that we're on the right path.

"It's big for our club and it makes the signing of Jordy even bigger now.

"We needed to get help for Elliott last year, he was doing the bulk of the work by himself and to target Jordy and to partner them up together is something we're really looking forward to as a club.

"They're going to be a pretty good one-two combo."

Jones confirmed there was plenty of competition for Powell's signature.

"There were some great sides interested in speaking to Elliott," he said.

"If we hadn't recruited as well as we have, the lure for him to go somewhere else was pretty strong.

"I don't blame other people for asking the question. Coaches would be doing their clubs a disservice if they weren't trying to recruit top-line players for next season and someone like Elliott wins games for his club.

"For Elliott to stick around with Dederang, it shows a bit of faith in what I'm doing and what the club's doing as well.

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"I'm good friends with him but I try not to use that too much!

"I've always said to him that if he wanted to go back in the O and M or to another footy club, I'd never stand in his way.

"As the year went on, I would follow what he was doing pretty closely.

"He's a great footballer and a great mate and I'm glad he's sticking around at our club.

"Elliott is huge for our group. There was so much buzz when he came back here and there were people coming back to the footy that I hadn't seen at Dederang for a long time.

"With him and Jordy, probably the best one-two punch in the midfield in the Tallangatta league, it's going to be pretty exciting to watch."

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