Hills was endorsed at a club board meeting on Wednesday night after a ‘‘hefty’’ three-week interview process.

Club football operations manager Neale Atkins said  that Launceston decided to place faith in Hills, a former Blues director of coaching, to hold onto the same philosophies that Lonergan had put in place after more than two months of pre-season training.

But the club overlooked last year’s coach Scott Stephens, who stepped aside for the return of former AFL Bomber Lonergan amid his homecoming to Windsor Park.

‘‘We wanted to work out the logistics of how we wanted to move forward this year,’’ Atkins said of Hills’ appointment.

‘‘Once we worked out what we can and can’t do with a few certain areas, we spent the last two weeks interviewing a couple of coaches, but we decided to keep it pretty in house.’’

The brother of former Essendon 1990s speedster Paul Hills has been signed for just one season, leaving the job wide open for Lonergan’s return from his 12-month WADA ban for his part – and 33 other current and former Essendon players – in the AFL club’s doping saga from the 2012 season.

Atkins admitted ‘‘ideally’’ the position would be transitional to leave leave the door open for Lonergan, but he said eligibility over the court processes prevented him commenting any further past the end of 2016.

‘‘We just want to focus on this year with Chris (Hills),’’ he said.

Atkins said nearly five weeks in charge in the absence of Lonergan has also allowed Hills to put his ‘‘own little twist’’ on the new job.

The club decided against the idea of bringing a new face with new ideas this late in the pre-season.

‘‘We’ve been training since November 16 and we have had a plan in place with the pre-season program where the guys have really taken to it pretty well,’’ Atkins said.

Stephens was not considered for the job again, as Atkins said the club ‘‘was never going down that path’’ to retain the status quo.

‘‘He’s been busy with work – he wasn’t going to play or anything this year,’’ Atkins said.

‘‘Hopefully he’ll play a few games with the club this year.’’