Originally from Bracknell, the 26-year-old Semmens said he was excited by the challenge after spending the past five seasons playing NTCA cricket with the Saints.

"We (George Town) enjoyed a bit of success in 2012-13, with the one-day Kookaburra Cup which was a highlight - I love the club down there but I'm excited about the change and cutting my teeth as a coach at a relatively young age," he said.

"I'm looking forward to the opportunity that Hadspen is offering me."

Former Chieftains premiership player and coach Scott Plummer has returned to the club as president for the upcoming season and said high-profile coaches like Semmens were hard to attract.

"We're happy and very lucky to have an experienced and high-calibre player and an accredited coach like Scott join us and we wanted to set the bar pretty high," he said.

Semmens said he intended to take a whole-club approach to his coaching role and wanted to see the club be successful across all grades.

The Chieftains have struggled in recent seasons after winning back-to-back TCL A-grade flags in 2009-11 and two A-reserve premierships in the same period.

"We want to climb back up the ladder and achieve success again on the field and off the ground we have some big things happening as well," Plummer said.

Hadspen A-grade captain Clint Moore said he was looking forward to working with Semmens and wanted to learn more about coaching from him.

"It's something I'd like to work into eventually and to cut my teeth and get some accreditation under Scott will be good for the future," he said.