Plum is a Wagga Brothers junior who played 150 games after debut with the Sydney Roosters before moving to the Canberra Raiders and finished his career with the Penrith Panthers in 2015.

The NRL veteran always had aspirations of returning to the country areas to coach and thought now was a good time to jump in.

"My kids have been involved with Yenda at the junior level, and they approached me late last year," he said.

"Took a couple of weeks to make my decision because I was enjoying my down time with family since I retired.

"I've wanted to get into coaching and having been out of the game for three years I thought the time was right."

It was the strong family culture which was one of the deciding factors in Plum taking on the role.

"Yenda has been really welcoming to my family," he said.

"Hopefully me being around the club can help retain some of the senior boys, and I'm looking forward to working with the club as a whole not just the under 18s."

This will be the former NRL forward's first venture into coaching, and he admits it will be a different challenge to tackle.

"I have the experience of playing the game, but I have never been on this side of the fence," he said.

"When I was a player I was always a follower so this will be a new challenge for me."

Plum is looking forward to working with a talented list.

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"We have had good numbers to training which is good at this time of year, and there are only six weeks until the season gets underway," he said.

"Some of the players from the under 16s side from last year will be stepping up, and I think there will be plenty of talent."

Yenda's long-serving secretary, Sam Panarello said the impact of Plum around the club could already be felt.

"Already Nigel's presence at training has seen numbers swell and as he works across all grades his experience is a wonderful asset," he said.

Panarello was also pleased to announce that Willie Lolohea is taking on the captain-coach role with Michael Mogliotti yet to commit to another season with the Blueheelers.

There has been a fair bit of change from the Blueheelers team who played in the grand final with a mix of retirements, job relocations and long term injuries.

"We've lost Steven Broome, who played a major part last season, Semi Tafili, Braydon Jones hasn't recovered from injury and will have the year off back in Hamilton N.Z," Panarello said.

"Shaquille Jackman and his partner Taina are expecting their first child and have moved to Brisbane to be closer to Tania/s family. Jayden Conaghan, our fourth-year medical student, has had to move to Coffs Harbour to finish his Rural Medical course, so it will certainly be a new look pack in 2019.

"On the bright side we have a Queenslander arriving today to check out employment prospects before he commits and a host of young juniors coming thru the ranks at Yenda. There's plenty of opportunity to any young player looking to mould into group 20's youngest squad."

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