Yarrawonga coach Steve Johnson has emphatically shot down rumours surrounding his future at JC Lowe Oval since leading the Pigeons to the flag last season.
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There has been plenty of innuendo in O&M circles during the off-season that Pigeon officials were set to cut ties with the former AFL star in the wake of some ugly claims from outside the club regarding Johnson during the club's premiership celebrations.
Johnson confirmed he was aware of the rumours circulating about him which he dismissed as 'outside noise.'
"I've heard the rumours going around about me and there has been a lot of outside noise about me not coaching again this year," Johnson said.
"So there has been plenty of speculation from outside the club that I won't be coaching again but internally that's never been in doubt.
"From what I'm hearing there seems to have been rumours that have been fabricated about me from the moment we won the grand final.
"I signed a two-year deal to coach and there had been speculation around whether I would be coaching or not and some other things but that is just outside noise that you can't control.
"Internally we are very happy and I'm very happy to be coaching once again."
Johnson hinted the Pigeons could even add a 'further one or two recruits' before their season opener against Wodonga on Easter Sunday at Mulwala.
"Even with the addition of Dan, we still have points up our sleeve to add to our list over the next couple of weeks," he said.
"If we played our exact grand final side from last year, it would be 30 points."
Both Wangaratta and Wangaratta Rovers have been the pacesetters during the off-season recruiting stakes after finishing third and fourth on the ladder respectively last year.
Johnson said while he was aware of the arrivals at both Wangaratta clubs he declined to elaborate which rival club in the competition that he expected to improve most this year.
"Living closer to Wangaratta than Yarrawonga, I've seen that both the Maggies and Rovers have added to their list," he said.
"Albury has also signed a few recruits.
"But all that stuff is out of our control and as a club all we can do is try and get the best players available to our footy club and retain the players we have.
"Retention was our main priority which we have been able to do.
"As a coach, that's what I'm most happy about."
Johnson also refused to nominate who he thought would start the season as flag favourites.
"Personally, I don't really care who starts the season as flag favourites," he said.
"I think teams may think that Yarrawonga won it last year and are the team to beat again.
"If that's the case... so be it.
"All I know is, it's going to be another strong competition.
"So I think everyone in the area who is involved with the O&M should be really excited about the standard of footy which will be produced again in 2024."
