Red Cliffs announced its biggest coup in August, revealing it had signed former Robinvale premiership coach Troy Moncur on a two-year deal.

"We'd had him in mind for a while," Tigers president David Hensgen told The Weekly Times.

"I think (former president) Lynton Bate spoke to him throughout the year during his last season at Robinvale and I spoke to him back before he even went to Robinvale.

"Having a professional coach like Troy makes such a difference - when you're trying to recruit, guys come to you because they want to play under him."

Moncur, an information and communication technology teacher at Nichols Point Primary School, near Mildura, was the mastermind behind Robinvale's ascent from also-rans to perennial finalists during his time at the club.

Appointed to the helm in 2008, he led the Roos to the grand final in all four of the seasons he coached, winning a flag in 2010.

After farewelling the Roos at the end of the 2011 season, he opted to spend a year outside the Sunraysia league "out of respect for Robinvale".

"I was a little bit tired so I wanted to have a year off coaching," Moncur said.

"I was playing at Ouyen United (in the Mallee league) but I still had that itch to coach again, so when the Red Cliffs job came up it seemed like a good challenge.

"They've got a good bunch of young kids but they've been down and out for a while so hopefully we can get a good structure going and turn it around."

Fortunately for Red Cliffs, the appointment of Moncur was a package deal.

Former North Melbourne and Melbourne livewire Shannon Motlop and star Sunraysia midfielder John Jackson, who both played under Moncur at Robinvale, have also joined the Tigers.

Motlop, who pulled on the boots for St Arnaud in the North Central league last year, said Moncur "makes sure all the boxes are ticked".

"He's very good to play under," Motlop said.

"He's a school teacher, so he's on top of everything and he makes sure all his football students are listening.

"In country footy, you need that person that will go the extra mile and Troy definitely does more off the field than most coaches."

Fuelled by Moncur's appointment and a whiff of success, Red Cliffs has also welcomed back former captain Chris Lee from a stint at Woomelang-Lascelles, while legendary full-forward Mick Faulkhead has come out of retirement.

Faulkhead retired in 2011 after a stellar career that included a league best-and-fairest, four Tigers best-and-fairests, two league-leading goalkicker awards and 10 inter-league appearances.

"He's lost 15kg and he's looking really fit, so he'll be a great forward target for us," Moncur said.

"The club actually had a really solid nucleus - quick young kids and a decent group of senior players.

"We really just needed to add four or five new faces in, not necessarily for talent, but just blokes from sides that have been winning."

Hensgen, who took over the Tigers presidency this year, was full of praise for the club's young players who had remained at the club despite its lack of success.

"Those kids have had a hard time and it's credit to them that they all stayed with us," he said.

"People were saying it wasn't the right time to get Troy and spend that extra money, but you've got to start winning some games.

"I'm sure if Troy didn't come this year, there'd be 10 players out there on the (training) track who wouldn't be here anymore, and they're all good players."

Admitting the club needed to shrug its losing culture if it was to challenge the competition's top teams, Moncur has gone back to school to generate belief and trust.

Early in the pre-season, he split the playing group into four "mini-teams" and issued each team with different coloured training singlets.

"It's a competition and there's prizes for the winning team, so it's all about team bonding and relationship building," he said.

"I'm finding I'm using a lot of strategies from school, like splitting up the guys that always hang out together, so there's a mix of older guys and young blokes in each team.

"It's really easy in those small groups to pick out who your leaders are going to be."

The new-look Tigers' first test is a formidable one - they meet last year's preliminary finalist South Mildura in a night match on April 13.

Moncur is hopeful it will be the first step on the road to finals footy.

"Irymple and Wentworth are probably a bit ahead of the pack and then it drops away a little bit," he said.

"I think we've got a realistic chance of getting a finals position.

"Anything more would be a bonus."