The Pirates last title was in 1999 and the years since have been lean, with grand final appearances in 2000 and 2013 both resulting in losses.

So club officials hope new captain-coach Danny Russell will end that run of outs.

Russell comes to the club with sound credentials. He played four NRL first grade games with Penrith in 2003 and was a member of the reserve grade side beaten in the grand final. Former Old Bar local Chris Hicks played on the wing.

Russell then had stints with Parramatta and North Sydney before heading to England.

For the past three years he's been with Group Two club Sawtell, where he won a premiership. Russell, now 30, will be undertaking his first coaching job with the Pirates, contrary to media reports that he had the job at Sawtell.

He's looking forward to officially taking the reins of his new club.

"Yeah, I can't wait - it's good to be a challenge and that's what I'm looking forward to,'' Russell said this week.

Russell's wife is from this area and that was an attraction to apply for the coaching position. However, coaching has been on his radar for a few years.

"I was going to put in for the Sawtell position. But this came up before that,'' he said.

He has a bit of an idea what talent he'll have to work with, as he saw the Pirates in action during this year's semi-final campaign. This included the grand final loss to Wauchope where the Pirates had two players sent off and another three in the sin bin at various stages. He was less-than-complimentary about referee Zac Schembri's handling of the fixture.

However, Old Bar president Mal Ladmore said the club will lose a number of players from the 2013 roster although this has been counter-balanced by the signing of Russell and former Port City and Forster-Tuncurry utility Kurt Lewis, as reported in Wednesday's Times.

"That's why we've signed Kurt and Danny, because we want to get players of high quality into our club,'' Ladmore said.

"We can build a team around these two guys because they'll attract players.''

Russell is a halfback and has captained the Group Two side for the past two years. Group Two made the Country Championship tier two final this season.

But he'll wait to see what the Pirates have before determining where he play in 2014.

"I can play anywhere really,'' he said.

"I made my debut for Penrith in the centres.''

Russell said the Pirates will start training mid-January. Old Bar played Sawtell in a trial game at Old Bar last year and Ladmore said the club owes Sawtell a return match up there next season.

However Russell is mindful of the pre-season starting on March 22 and concluding on April 13, where all clubs are guaranteed four matches, and said he isn't too concerned if a further trial against his old club doesn't fit into the schedule.

He tasted premiership success with Sawtell two years ago.

Now he's determined to be a drought breaker with the Pirates.