Narromine's grand final-winning coach Terry Fahey will not coach the Jets in 2006, with Rob Lake taking over the reins of the club on Monday night.
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Fahey, who led the side to a mammoth 52-28 victory over Wellington in last year's Group 11 decider at Apex Oval, has recently taken over the Courthouse Hotel in Narromine and said he was unable to balance a business with coaching a football club.
"It's just a time thing, running a pub is a seven-day-a-week job," said Fahey, who was announced last year as a member of the NSWRL 'Team of the 80s'.
"I will still try and get to the games and everything but I would have struggled to get to training, especially on Wednesdays and Fridays because they are two of our biggest nights at the pub.
"But the club has done well in picking up Rob as coach because he is a bloody good bloke and has the respect of everybody at the club."
Like every club, the Jets have seen some players leave during the off-season with Jake Clarke (Newcastle), Nic Jentjens (Cobar) and Luke Thompson (Leeton) all moving on.
Despite these losses, Fahey is still predicting a big season for the Jets.
"The guys they lost are all very good footballers but we picked up Quentin McEwen from CYMS and a couple of others so I think there is every chance they will go well again this year, they still have the best backline in the competition" he said.
"I coached the guys in their trial against Coonabarabran and even though we lost 28-20 we didn't have our full-strength team and I really think Rob is starting out with a very good team."
Fahey predicted Mick Ryan, who led the side well from the front last year, would once again be a standout in 2006.
"He's a good footballer and you only had to see how he responded to the captaincy last year to realise that he is important to that side," Fahey said.
"He was one of the best players in the trial against Coonabrabran and he will definitely be one bloke ‘Lakey' looks to for help."
The Jets will meet fellow grand final combatants Wellington at Cale Oval in the opening round of the 2006 competition with Fahey predicting a huge start to the season.
"The clubs get along pretty well and both have really good followings," he said.
"There is a really good rivalry between the clubs and that was obvious by the grand final last year.
"I don't know how Cale Oval will fit all the people in, I think it will burst at the seams from both sides."
