Katie O'Neill described herself as being "nervously excited" after making the step up from assistant coach as to join Lou Carter in the main role.

Meanwhile Dannie Carstens has made the move to mentor coach, a role which O'Neill said was due to family commitments.

"Dannie's got a very young family and being involved in such a professional State League club like Cavs, it's not just your Monday night training, your Wednesday night training and then your Saturday game day," O'Neill said.

"She still wants to be involved, but just take a little bit of a step back to have a little bit more time with her family while they're young.

"I'm really excited that I'm lucky enough that I can step into that co-coaching role with Lou, but Dannie is going to be around, really mentoring me and making sure that I'm well supported in my role."

O'Neill is coming off her fourth year at the club, with two years as assistant and then head coach of the 19-and-unders preceding two campaigns as assistant coach for the open team.

Entering her fourth role with the Cavs, O'Neill said she had a lot to thank the club for.

"The club, first and foremost, are obviously happy with what I'm doing in the coaching space to give me the opportunities," she said.

"It's rewarding for me in a couple of different respects, it's good for my coaching and my development, but certainly it's nice that the club thinks quite highly of me as well to give me that opportunity."

Cavaliers returned to the TNL grand final in 2023, but were unable to overcome the Northern Hawks, a side which has lost just once in two years - that being the qualifying final Northern derby held a few weeks earlier.

O'Neill said regardless of what happened last season, there are always areas that need improvement.

"Whether you make a grand final, or whether you win a grand final, I think every year is a challenge to certainly step it up another gear for that next season," she said.

"All clubs will be doing exactly the same, so I don't think you can underestimate any clubs working towards stepping up their game in the next few years. We need to do that as well."

Tracee Cook has been named specialist coach for the open side, while Lynda Colgrave will lead the 19s in 2024.