James McInerney and Luke Bloom to co-coach Cudgewa

The pair replace Brayden Carey at the helm after he was appointed coach at the start of 2019.

Carey has returned to Beechworth and has been appointed co-coach of his home club alongside Tom Cartledge.

Star forward Kylin Morey has resisted offers from several district league clubs to remain at Cudgewa as an assistant coach.

Carey boasts a near perfect coaching record at Cudgewa.

The Blues lost the opening round in Carey's first season in charge in 2019 but went into the grand final on a 15 match winning streak.

However, the rookie coach was denied a flag after Bullioh scored an upset win in the grand final.

The Blues were a raging favourite to make amends last year and were minor premiers with a 9-0 record when the season was abandoned.

Cudgewa president Greg Hillier was confident McInerney and Bloom both boasted the experience necessary to coach.

Bloom was an assistant coach under Carey.

"Both the boys have been at the club now for quite a while now and have a family connection," Hillier said.

"James previously played at Wodonga but his father played a lot of his career at Cudgewa.

"Luke's father is also a former player so the boys are familiar with the place.

"Getting Kylin to recommit as an assistant coach was a huge bonus.

"We feel very fortunate to hold onto him because he could easily play at a much higher standard and there were plenty of clubs chasing his signature."

ALSO IN SPORT

Hillier conceded that the 'Carey connection' would be hard to replace.

"It's fair to say we will miss the Carey connection both on and off the field," he said.

"Brayden was a fantastic asset to have at the club as were the recruits that followed him.

"But we are happy how the list is shaping up and have retained most of the list apart from the 'Carey connection.'

"We have signed a few recruits which we will announce shortly."

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: