The former State League midfielder took over the reins in February following the departure of under-18 premiership coach Roydon Peters and has steered the Country Tigers to their first finals series since 2012.

Thorp said the club had taken big strides this year and was buoyant about what his side could achieve on the back of a settled pre-season. 

“The club’s got a really good feel about it at the moment and I‘d really like to keep things going that way,” Thorp said.

“I’m looking forward to being able to take the lead role from right at the start of the pre-season and work on things that we put in place this year that held us in good stead against the good sides.”

The Country Tigers have dominated the under-18 competition in recent years, and Thorp believes the senior side is beginning to reap the benefits of a strong junior program. 

“I went to the under-16 grand final on Sunday and (Longford) won, and our under-18s are red-hot favourites to win as well so there’s definitely a giant pool of talented underage players out that way,” he said.

“I’m definitely looking at keeping all those guys involved in our system and putting the work in to fast-track them into senior football.

“It’s a talented area with our youth, as we’ve shown by playing 13 unders in our seniors this year – that’s obviously a big positive for the club so we’ll definitely be heading down that track against next year.”

The club will have a new coach in 2019, however, with reserves boss Anthony Williams announcing plans to step down after four years in the role. 

“Teddy is a legend at our club and we are very grateful of his fantastic service as both a coach and player,” president David Blair said. 

“Replacing him will be tough but we have commenced a search for the right person to work with Beau and (under-18 coach Rob Moore) as we consider the reserve coaching role as critical to our continued improvement.”

Meanwhile, Rocherlea has advertised for a new senior coach after 2016 flag boss Lyndon Stubbs stepped down from the main role. 

Stubbs led the Suburban Tigers to three straight final campaigns between 2015 and 2017 in what was his first senior coaching role.

Applicants have until October 3 to put their hand up for the job.