The former St Kilda footballer has excelled since first sharing the responsibilities with Kane Atkinson and is determined to unearth success at Mercury Dve in the coming campaign.
“It’s been a couple of years where we haven’t got anything out of footy, so I’m keen to go again,” Traianidis said.
“I’ve been at Rumbalara six or seven years now in some capacity with different roles, coaching and mentoring, and I it was a good time to step up and coach and I’ve been enjoying it.
“We got better as the year went; we changed the way we played a little bit, so I’m looking forward to building on that next season and going a step further with it.”
In a Murray Football League season marred by COVID-19, Traianidis guided Rumbalara to a respectable sixth-placed finish.
Victorian-based sides were dealt harsh, rolling blows due to lockdown and with NSW outfits’ training schedules slightly less affected by restrictions, the going was tough for the likes of Rumbalara.
The side knocked off the ever-potent Nathalia in round eight, with Traianidis placing July's two-goal overpowering of the Purples high atop his list of takeaways for 2021.
But one insurance policy trumped the monumental win: youth.
“We planned on having a pretty strong year, we didn’t recruit massively, but we targeted a few players we thought we needed,” he said.
“We ended up having a few serious injuries at the start of the season with a couple of boys going down for the whole year, so a lot of the positives came from the kids who came up from under-17s and played pretty much every week.
“Those boys filled their role and really got the team up and about — they did the right thing, always listened and stood up when needed.”
Undoubtedly, Rumbalara’s young brigade will continue to play its part and take an even greater step up in season 2022.
But player retention, as well as strengthening in the appropriate areas, is what Traianidis is now fixated on in preparation for what he to aspires to be a big year in blue and yellow.
“We’ve got our eye on a couple of blokes and have signed a couple already which I won’t go too much into,” he said.
“A couple will come over who were really keen and actually got on the phone to me to find out about our club which is great to see.
“We find it a little bit hard to recruit players, but when they ring up and ask to come that makes it easier. We’re probably still looking to bring in maybe one or two blokes, but other than that I think everyone has signed on from this season and that was our main focus.”
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