Lonergan had begun his tenure as the Blues new senior coach at the end of 2015, undertaking pre-season training, bonding with players and planning for the 2016 TSL season when the bombshell was dropped that he would not be allowed any involvement in football as a player or coach.

“Yep definitely it came as a shock – it is not very often when you get to 29 or 30 and your mindset is that you are feeling good about your footy and this is not so much from a coaching point of view but a playing one,” Lonergan said.

“Mentally from a playing point of view I was up and about and really wanted to perform up to the mid-30 age bracket which is when most 30-year-olds are looking to wind it up and my head space was really good.

“And then having 12 months off – you are thinking – is the body going to hold up now and you start to get a bit nervous again so certainly this pre-season I have a lot more nerves in regards to my body and not having been involved in any training facility or even just kicking the football.

“I am going to be pretty sore by the end of the week going from kicking a footy 50 times a week to kicking a footy 500 times a week is a pretty big thing for the body to deal with. That’s probably where my most of my nerves and frustrations will iron out over the next few months and it’s slowly about getting back into footy.”

Able to attend 80 per cent of Launceston’s home games as a spectator, he said he found it “ridiculously hard” watching but not being able to have any input.

“When you can see certain things that can help and you weren’t able to say anything and most of the guys were doing their best to play a certain way that we started in the first three months and giving their absolute best to play that way but then it is falling apart – not being able to teach them and help them work their way through what was happening and why it was going wrong – that was the hard part.”

Lonergan kept himself busy helping young people gain business-entry level qualifications for about six months of his ban and he and his partner had their second child 10 weeks ago adding to family responsibilities.

“Pretty much for the entire 10 months I was out she was pregnant so it meant I could spend a bit more time supporting her and we have a two-year-old so that is keeping me busy – if I was going to have 10 months away from the game there probably wasn’t a better time to do it from that side of it,” he said.

He was expecting some official notification to mark the end of his ban but said he had heard nothing from the AFL and said he felt for former Essendon captain Jobe Watson who recently handed back his 2012 Brownlow Medal.

“Everything that had been reported was that the ban finished Sunday 12pm and Monday was our first day back and speaking to a couple of the guys we were almost expecting an email saying it is all done and dusted but I haven’t received anything,” he said.

“Day one I did a few interviews – and I thought to myself I hope this is actually done and finished because I’ve had no confirmation other than everything was done six months ago and everyone has been waiting for this date – it was one of those things where you were almost waiting for someone to say something to you but from all reports I am relatively confident it is all finished.

“I am really disappointed for Jobe – we’ve all gone through a lot over the last four years now and especially to have to go through that after all we’ve been through from the football, the personal, the ups and downs and being thrown into the spotlight on significant and numerous occasions he has always been the kind of face of it.

“And then at the end of it on top of everything else that has gone on it would be a hard thing to swallow and go through so I feel sorry for him and his family and his really close friends. The playing group has always supported him and we will always support him because Jobe is an impressive person and a super individual that cares about everyone and leads from the front.”

The Blues have lost ruckman Joe Groenewegen to the defence forces for season 2017 but Lonergan was hopeful of retaining most of their 2016 list. 

“Most of the other guys are happy with the club and that in itself is a positive to have a win-loss ratio like we did last year and I turn up to pre-season and most of our guys are ready to go day one and feeling good about themselves and the footy club.

“This time of year every club is looking to recruit and we’ve got a couple of others floating outside the scene we are still in contact with but from my end it is not a huge aim and the way footy is set up down here I don’t think you can spend all your time worrying about recruiting when you have strong and solid players in the club – that is valuable time lost on their development if you can spend extra time with them.

“We need to get the basics and foundation and the club right and then we will start to look at what we mean to our football club and not just go out and bring anyone in as fast as possible.”

He hoped to have Chris Hills back onboard in some capacity after his hard work in keeping the club going in his absence but said ultimately it would be his decision.

“He had a pretty big year last year and didn’t know at the start of pre-season he was going to be coaching the footy club but he took it onboard and stood up and did an absolutely awesome job. Chris is the reason the players have come back now in a good head space and wanting to move forward which is something as a footy club we haven’t had that kind of feeling for a few years.

“I can’t speak more highly of Chris and Deb and what they have done to support the footy club but internally people really know how much they’ve done and the time and effort they have put into our footy club but probably externally they won’t get the amount of recognition they deserve.

“He can pick and choose what he wants to do next year for whatever suits his lifestyle and we will work together in one way or another.”

Lonergan also praised North Launceston’s appointment of Tom Couch as senior coach next season.

“I think it’s great for Tassie footy – it’s another guy with AFL and mainland experience to help our Tasmanian football players –  sometimes our set-ups and structures are a little bit behind and we bring guys like that in and it brings an injection of what footy is on the mainland and that gives exposure to our young guys and I think that is a fantastic appointment.”