Ronald Lawrence will coach the Canowindra Tigers in the Woodbridge Cup for 2023

So it came as little surprise to most that the crafty big man would be the man to take over the coaching reigns in 2023 following Kevin Grimshaw's departure.

"The footy club has obviously been going pretty well the last couple of years under Kevin. An opportunity came up and they asked me if I wanted to do it and I agreed to take it on," Lawrence said.

"I've played under some really good coaches over the years and I'm always taking on board different things from different coaches. Hopefully I can put a winning team together and go from there."

This will be Lawrence's first venture into coaching, something which has him "pretty excited" or next season.

But he knows coaching a Woodbridge Cup side is about more than just how they perform on the field.

"Kev always had that relationship of being that former local man and former player," Lawrence, who himself live in Canowinda, said.

"I'm hoping to change a couple of things, but there doesn't really need to be too many changes. Kev has done well the last couple of years, so we'll see how we go."

Lawrence and the Tigers would count themselves unfortunate to not have some silverware to show for their past two campaigns.

They bowed out in the semi-finals to eventual premiers, the Manildra Rhinos, following an 28-26 extra time thriller.

"We were pretty unlucky and we've gone extremely close," he added.

"The year before we basically finished second as well and that was the COVID year so there was no finals football."

Although it is early days into the off-season, Lawrence indicated that "a lot" of last year's team were keen to go around again next season.

"Everyone seems to be excited for it. Now we've just got to do our bit and win some games. Winning the grand final is the main goal, but first of all just get the lads keen again and go from there," he said.

"They're keen to go again, so we'll see if I can attract another one or two."

Lawrence also confirmed that he would acting as a player-coach for the 2023 season as well.