Ryan, who has served as zone president and coached the South Coast Marlins in recent years, won four premierships as Boars head coach in his last stint with the club, which lasted five seasons.

“I’m pretty excited about it. It’s been about 10 years since I was involved in a formal coaching role with the Boars, so I look forward to going on with it now,” Ryan said on Monday.

“I’ve been involved helping the other coaches over the last couple of years, so it will be good to get back involved in a formal way.”

The club was determined to retain the services of last season’s boss Dave Silversides but the plate-winning coach stepped down due to other commitments.

Despite that, Ryan will take on the job with an impressive pedigree and after watching from the grandstands last season, he noticed a talented batch of youngsters coming through the ranks.

“We were all hoping that Dave Silversides would’ve kicked on with it but he’s got other commitments and I just think that there are a lot of good youngsters who have come through the juniors and I’m quite keen to take them to the next level,” Ryan said.

“All the young guys who came through last year performed well but they’ve got the potential to step up another level now and I guess that was the attraction for me.”

Ryan admitted it would be tough to overthrow reigning premiers the Broulee Dolphins this year but insisted that with a few experienced additions to the Bay squad, the Boars would give it a red-hot crack.

Meanwhile, the Boars have also entered under 10s and under 11s teams into the Canberra junior competition, which “should make for a fantastic year”, the club said in a statement.

Club official Ken Croaker also started the search for new sponsors.

“Any financial help is greatly appreciated,” Croaker said.

“New sponsors are always welcome, so please feel free to contact me on 0411 182 650 or Rob Small on 0437 480 888 to be a part of this season.”