This year’s Nhill captain will replace Tim Friend in the coaching role.

Friend said he was moving to Darwin but hoped he could return to play some games for the Rams.

The club also unveiled a new jumper design incorporating elements of former clubs Natimuk and the Horsham RSL Diggers, who merged last year to form Natimuk United.

The jumpers are predominantly blue with black and yellow patterns.

Natimuk’s colours were blue and yellow, and the Diggers’ colours were black and yellow.

The club alternated between the old Natimuk and Horsham RSL Diggers’ strips last year while it finalised a design for the new jumpers.

Natimuk United chairman Andrew Carine said the coaching appointment and new jumper represented the start of a new era for the Rams.

“Over the past two to five years we believe we’ve made inroads to making the club more stable and professional,” he said.

“With Simon joining us as coach for next season, we’re looking forward to more on-field success.”

Radius Steel Construction is the new major jumper sponsor. 

Brearley said he was excited for a fresh start at Natimuk United after playing most of his football with Nhill.

He has previously coached the Tigers, and stepped in as caretaker coach of the team last year after Darren Weavell was banned for one and a half years for striking a goal umpire.

Brearley said the decision to leave the Tigers was not an easy one.

“In the second half of this year I started thinking about getting back into coaching, and I decided the best thing was a start away from Nhill,” he said.

“Natimuk stood out because it had had a bit of success and wasn’t too far away from making the finals, and the distance isn’t too much of an issue either.

"Leaving Nhill was the hardest part of making the decision, because I love the club and its done everything right by me throughout my career.”

Natimuk had not qualified for the district league finals since 1997, and the Diggers were stranded near the bottom of the Wimmera league ladder in their final years.

Brearley said he was looking forward to the challenge of taking Natimuk to its first finals berth in 18 years.

“With the merger last year it was probably tough for Friendy to take over and try to get two different sides working together,” he said. 

“The pre-season was fairly disrupted, so the focus this year will be on getting as fit as possible.

“I’ve come on board for a minimum of two years with the aim of playing finals in the second year, if not this first.”

Brearley said the Rams wanted to incorporate several players coming out of the under-17 side into their senior line-up.

He said the club also had a specific recruiting plan.

“This year Tim Friend and Greg Hamilton were the only players to kick more than 20 goals,” he said.

“If we can get more guys in the 15-20 goal range and get a bigger spread of goal-kickers that will make us harder to defend, and we’re hoping to recruit another key defender and some more running defenders.”