Chris Oxford is swapping the red and white for the green, purple and white, and returning to his rugby roots.
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The former Farrer 1st XIII player and coach, and in most recent times, Tamworth Swan, will coach Barraba/Gwydir first grade in the 2020 Central North season.
It won't be his first coaching involvement with the club. After buying a property with partner Pina (Giuseppina) Guerrini out at Barraba, Oxford, who also works as a property valuer for Opteon Property Group, helped out as a backline coach two seasons ago.
He was approached about continuing with the club last season but wanted to have one final crack at AFL.
"I had surgery on my knee a few years ago. I wanted to do it before I got too old," the 32-year old said.
"I can coach for the next 20 years."
Oxford wishes he'd discovered AFL earlier, admitting it is probably the game he most follows now.
That said, he remains passionate about rugby.
It is what he grew up playing.
Raised in Quirindi, Oxford played junior rugby for the Lions.
At Farrer he played "bits and pieces", rugby taking a bit of a back seat to league.
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Moving down to Sydney after school he got back into rugby again, playing two seasons of Shute Shield, including "a small amount of first grade" for Northern Suburbs. He also played a bit with Manly, but chronic knee problems forced him to prematurely hang up the boots.
Returning to his alma mater to take up a job as the sports coordinator Oxford got involved in coaching, firstly with the schools Buckley Shield (under-14) side and then stepping up to coach the First XIII.
"They were struggling for someone to take over the league my second year there. I didn't want to see the program go under," Oxford said.
"As much as I don't really follow league it's a good program."
In his first year in charge (2014) he took them to the University Shield, the side led by Tom Say and Brad Johnston pulling off one of the greatest comebacks in the school's history to beat Sarah Redfern High 35-34 and win the prestigious silverware for the fifth time.
Coaching at a club level wasn't though something he'd really thought about until the Ram-Rats approached him, but he is looking forward to the season.
"They're a great bunch of blokes and a proud rugby club," he said.
He will be assisted by 2019 captain Will Robinson, who has taken on a player-coach role and will be helping out with the forwards.
Last season's coach Tom Mellor will also provide valuable guidance, Oxford commenting that his experience and on-field leadership "will be like having an extra coach around training on-field every Saturday".
"Both have played a lot of rugby for Barraba and will be an invaluable resource going forward," he said.
The Ram-Rats finished out of the finals reckoning last season but from what he has heard, Oxford said the feeling around the club about the season is "pretty optimistic".
Fueling that optimism is the young talent coming through with several of the victorious under-19s side expected to step up to the senior ranks.
Oxford expects the geographical challenge to be one of his biggest but noted that they are "quite passionate".
They kicked-off pre-season this week, and Oxford envisages training one day a week in Bingara and one day a week in Barraba.
