This strong era, which included three straight grand final appearances including becoming premiers in 2019, all started under the guidance of Matt O'Brien before he passed the role onto Matt Clarke.

When the latter decided to move on at the end of 2020, following Kiama's loss to Jamberoo in the finals, there was one obvious candidate for the role.

A clubman who had been his righthand man the last two years.

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That person is Marc Laird, who was recently unveiled as the Knights head coach for 2021.

"After we were eliminated by Jamberoo at Bomaderry last year, Clarkey told me on our drive home (as they were carpooling), he was going to step down from the role due to family commitments and thought I should put my hand up for the role, as he believed I was the best man for the job," Laird said.

"Before I knew it, the committee had approved it and I was the coach of the Knights, which is really exciting."

Laird first started his association with the Kiama Showground-based club as a four-year-old and has only spent three years away from the Knights when they didn't have a team for him (from under 16s to under 18s).

He then returned to play grade for the club in 2001, which he did so for the next 18 years - before hanging up the boots after steering the club to back-to-back reserve grade premierships (2017 and 2018) as captain/coach.

"Once I finished up playing, I still wanted to be involved with Kiama in any way I could - as I love the game and club," Laird said.

"Clarkey and I had a chat about him needing a hand with first grade, which was a role I jumped at.

"We had a great couple of years together, in which he taught me a lot about the game from the coaching side of things and how to look at the game differently."

That tenure, mixed in with his experience and passion for the red, black and white jersey, makes Laird confident he can succeed in his maiden season in charge.

"I'm aiming to bring passion at the role, as I've only ever been a part of this club in my career," the 39-year-old said.

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"I also want to continue those foundations built over the past few years, in terms of positive attitude, strong culture, commitment and wanting to keep turning up for one another.

"It's also great I have a solid relationship with all the boys away from footy too - I believe that's an important aspect to success in any sport.

"In terms of our style of play, not much will change too much, as I'll be in charge of attack and thankfully, Clarkey will still being around to keep the boy's honest defensively - which a lot of our offence will feed off once again.

"We've always been a hard-working side and that won't change - if we continue to turn up for one another consistently, I'm confident the results will take care of themselves."

In terms of his playing roster, Laird will still have key players Kieran Poole, Tom Atkins, Daniel Martin and Dylan Morris, who's slated stint with Whitehaven has been postponed due to COVID-19, at his disposal.

While losing premiership players Cam Vazzoler (Warilla-Lake South), Luke Chalker (Wests), Tom Angel (Collegians) and Callan Thistlethwaite (Dapto), as well as Tom Harris (Warilla-Lake South), Josh Dowel (Collegians) and Sean Payne (Collegians) hurts, Laird is confident he has found suitable replacements.

"There's no denying those players have left huge holes in our squad," Laird said.

"But I've told all the boys to not worry about who we don't have, rather who we do, which is why I thought it was important to bring back some former Knights who didn't play last season.

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"Blake Rickard, Cam Cornell, Ethan Ford and Tyler Clark are all back in the squad, which is exciting.

"Mix those guys in with what's returning from last season, with our great leaders like Koo [Poole], Tommy [Atkins] and Marto [Martin] and it's a solid place to start from.

"Like any team, our first goal is to make finals and hopefully when they roll around, we can have a fit and firing side to make some noise."

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