The Bears announced last week that former player Trevor Morris would return to the club for his second stint as first grade coach after Steve Piggott was sacked.

Morris, who led Weston to the premiership in 2004, has coached the club’s youth teams in recent years and is highly respected in the Hunter football community.

Weston had a successful campaign on the park in 2014 and finished second in the race for the Northern NSW National Premier League premiership, reached the grand final and was Northern NSW’s inaugural representative in the NPL play-offs.

But Morris, an honorary member of the club, said he did not feel any pressure about returning to the role he left at the end of 2006.

“It is an honour and a privilege to get the job,” he said.

“I know the players, the culture of the club, the history and it was the way the committee sold it to me.

“It’s about stability, keeping the club moving forward and not taking backward steps after all the good work Piggo did.”

Morris said he was excited to work with the squad he will inherit and expected his experienced players – including Robbie Turnbull, Tim Pratt, Carl Thornton and his son, Nathan – to enter the best stage of their careers.

“I think they’re in their prime now,” he said.

“They are at that age where we need to get the best out of them. 

“Players are at their best mentally and ­hopefully physically at this time, I’m only ­looking to bring in one or two players to ­freshen things up, that’s all we need.”

Morris said he was convinced of what he wanted to achieve next season.

“The club championship,” he said.

“Success across the grades, from the under 13s to first grade.

“Our junior program has been running for five years now and we’ve got some great juniors coming through, we’re starting to see the rewards of that.

“The club is in a really strong position, we’ve never been stronger than this since 1995.” 

Morris said he hoped to have his squad finalised before the start of pre-season training in January.