CENTRALS Trinity Beach have handed the leash to one of their favourite sons to help the Bulldogs rediscover the mongrel that made them one of the most feared sides in the AFL Cairns during the 1990s.

Michael Seymour played during that golden period, which yielded three premierships, and has returned for his second stint as coach after leading the Bulldogs in 2002 and 2003.

The former ruck rover, who takes over the top job from Glen Coghlan, said the club was better than their fifth placing last season.

"I’ve always had an association with the club and stayed involved, and I felt like I had the desire to give it ago," he said.

"I felt we under-achieved a bit last year with the list that we had. "When you look at it, I think we lost about six games by 10 points or under. If you win those you’d just about be second.

"The good thing is that we’ve just about managed to retain and same list as last season and we’ll be adding a few players as well."

Some of the names in line to return to the kennel include 2007 best and fairest Scott Vis, on-ballers Ben and Simon Ryan and ruckman Mick Spanagel.

Seymour said the playing group being assembled was capable of finals football.

"With the list we’ve got and some of the players we’re talking to, we’ll definitely have finals aspirations," he said.

Assisting Seymour next season will be full-forward Heath Barnett, who is taking on his first senior coaching role.

The Bulldogs start pre-season training on January 14.

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