After topping off the Central Highlands Football League season with a premiership, one of the competition's best players has signed on for another go around with the Roos.
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Grand final best-on-ground winner James Lukich has decided to extend his contract with Waubra for another season, keeping him with the club until the end of 2020.
The talented mid-fielder was being hotly recruited by another of other teams in the competition, however declined to move on from the Roos.
Waubra Football Club president Simon Toll said the announcement is a huge boost to the club's prospects of repeating as premiers in 2020.
"It's just so positive to bring a player like James back," he said.
"Hopefully he'll get the chance to play in the finals with his brother... that'd be amazing if the brothers could win a flag together.
"He's just a good bloke to have around the club, he won everything except for the league best and fairest and he only played 10 games."
Lukich will take on an expanded role with the club in 2020, being appointed as assistant coach under Matt James.
Toll said he is excited to see what Lukich can bring to the club strategically.
"I think it'll be great for his personal development and for the footy club... he's got an excellent football brain and it'll bring new ideas to the table to keep the boys fresh."
These sentiments were echoed by Roos coach Matt James, who praised Lukich's football knowledge.
"He's a student of the game," James said.
"He loves football, he's really knowledgeable about all the mechanics of the game so for me he's going to provide a lot of support in those areas."
James said retaining Lukich is huge for the club, especially given the countless phone calls the mid-fielder received from other clubs in country Victoria after Waubra's grand final victory.
I don't think there was a club within 100 kilometres that didn't make contact with him in these past couple of months.
- Matt James
"For us to keep him just speaks volumes about the culture of the group and the club that we've set up."
Hampered by injuries over the past two years, including an ankle injury which sidelined the star for much of the second half of the year and needed surgery after the 2019 grand final, James said the prospects of a fully healthy Lukich should be a daunting one for other clubs in the CHFL.
"We haven't had him fit for a finals series over the past two years... two years ago he shouldn't have been playing with his hamstring and last year he shouldn't have been playing with his ankle.
"To have him back at 100 per cent for the majority of the year would be massive."
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