'There is that carrot': Footballers driven in quest for third straight flag

Nirranda has lost just one player - the creative Isaac Stephens - from the grand final team which accounted for Merrivale in September.

Second-year coach Nick Couch is bullish about the Blues' prospects.

They will start their flag defence with a training session with the club's netballers on December 15 at Warrnambool's Deakin University before returning in mid-January for pre-season.

Couch is happy with the players' commitment but is still eager to add to the Blues' list before round one.

"Nothing in, nothing out other than (Stephens to Camperdown) at the minute but we have a few leads," he said.

"But it's probably not going as well as we'd like, recruiting-wise we'd like to have got one by now.

"Looking at the landscape at the minute, there looks like there's not too much movement into the district league."

Nirranda's success is driving the players' desire for more silverware.

"The players got around each other pretty quickly after the grand final and said 'all right, let's keep this show rolling'," he said.

"Everyone committed pretty early and there is that carrot for a few of them that it would be nice to get three in a row.

"They are hard to come by and we have the opportunity to try and do that, so let's try and grasp the opportunity and work hard to try and achieve it.

"It is a long way off yet but I think it is a good motivator to do a good pre-season."

One player who could help the Blues' cause is emerging ruckman Hugh Giblin.

"The way he finished the year off this year, he grew in confidence," Couch said.

"Ruckmen usually take a few years (to mature) and I think he's nearly ready to take that next step and probably be up there competing against (Merrivale's) Manny (Sandow) as the two top ruckmen in the league," Couch said.

Coaching feels more natural to the former VFL player 12 months on.

"I feel a lot more relaxed I think. Last year there was the expectation for me to do well and it probably weighed pretty heavy on me," Couch said.

"This year I want to try and enjoy it."

Couch said the Blues had opted to add the pre-Christmas training session into their schedule this year.

"Numbers-wise we wouldn't get too many before Christmas (if we trained regularly) with work commitments," he said.

"There's a few who are tied up in the (farming) industry I suppose and then we have a lot of tradies as well and this time of year they try and make the most of the daylight.

"We usually start later for training as well - we don't usually start until 6.30pm to allow the farmers to get to training."