NEW Port Melbourne coach Adam Skrobalak knows he has big shoes to fill.

That goes without saying when you’re replacing a football legend who coached the Borough in more than 250 matches over 13 seasons, making the finals all but twice and winning two premierships.

But while Skrobalak admires and respects what his mate and confidante Gary Ayres achieved, he is determined to forge his own path as he returns to North Port Oval following a year as an assistant to Ayres in 2012.

"He's a very good coach, Gary, with a lot of strengths in a lot of areas, and even in my short time there I learnt a lot off him," he said.

"I don't think you're ever going to replace him in some ways. We're two different types of coaches and there's going to be a real point of difference, so I don't think there's any point in trying to be the next Gary – Gary's Gary and he did a terrific job, but I've got my unique style and I want to stamp that into the program.

"I think there's a lot of things Gary has done that will stay because he did a brilliant job over time and we still keep in contact and have done since I was there.

"We spoke as late as last week, so it's great for me to take over the role as someone who has been at Port and I think he would also like the fact someone who he played a part in the development of is taking over the role he filled for such a long time.

"We've got a really good relationship so I am sure he’s going to continue to be a big help for me along the way."

Skrobalak, 42, has a long and decorated career as a player and a coach.

He played TAC Cup for the Western Jets, AFL reserves for Collingwood and the Western Bulldogs and VFL for Werribee before returning to his home club Bacchus Marsh as assistant coach and then coaching Torquay to the 2006 Bellarine league premiership and East Geelong to the 2009 Geelong and District flag.

After his 2012 year under Ayres at Port Melbourne, he served two seasons as an assistant coach at the Jets and took charge of the Vic Metro under-17s in 2014.

He spent seven years as an assistant at St Kilda, firstly part-time from 2015-18 which included leading Frankston back into the VFL in 2018 before moving into a full-time role at the Saints for the past three years.

Skrobalak said Frankston had given his coaching career a significant boost, as had his long stint at St Kilda.

"Frankston was a unique challenge obviously starting with no players and no football staff, so we had to build everything from scratch, that was really challenging and it was probably the most I've learnt in one year," he said.

"Working at AFL level full-time in the modern game and learning how to put a program together was great and I'm excited to take a lot of those learnings and put them into play in the Port Melbourne system."

Skrobalak said there would be a big focus on fitness and fixing a glaring deficiency in contested footy, identified as the main reasons behind the Borough’s collapse to 21st  spot, and is confident it won’t take long.

"The biggest thing is the reset from COVID, they probably missed a little bit on the standards and the fitness side, so we will put a fair bit of work into the program on fitness as well as the game plan," he said.

"They were in the bottom five for inside-50s against, but they were last in the contests at minus 22 every week – we’ll put a lot of work around developing a game plan that suits that, we definitely need to make up a lot of ground – minus 22 in contests is not up to the level.

"I'm working through the list now with (football manager) Glenn (Balmforth), we've identified we need some more ruck stocks and key position players and probably a bit more midfield depth, (and) there’s the scope there to move players around.

"Harvey Hooper is a perfect example, he played half-back but looked very good when he went into the midfield, Fletcher Roberts is known as a key back but played one game as a key forward and looked really good.

"The main thing for me is to put a good off-field team into place and develop the talent we have – and anyone who comes into the Port Melbourne Football Club will become a better player.

"The key is to churn out better footballers and better people and we’ll be putting a lot around the personal development of our players as well as building a game plan to bring on-field success."

Port Melbourne CEO Paul Malcolm was delighted to secure a coach with Skrobalak's experience and was confident he would not be weighed down by the spectre of Ayres.

He said there had been 16 applicants for the position before advertising, with Skrobalak topping a shortlist of five.

"We thought (Ayres' legacy) could either scare people off or we'd get people who would want to make it their own," he said.

"The guys who got down to the final five were all definitely of the right character who wanted to respect what Gary had done but wanted to build their own dynasty and their own story.

"We feel if we can pick up a couple of key position players, have a really good pre-season and tweak the game plan we won't be too far off."

Skrobalak will join the Borough on October 4, joining inaugural VFLW coach Lachie Harris, who was reappointed this month on the back of an excellent 10-5 debut season that yielded an elimination final appearance.

"If you'd said to me at the start of the year we were going to win five-plus games in our first year I would have said 'I'll take it but I'm not sure we're going to get there'," Malcolm said.

"We were super lucky to be in the hunt for a licence when (Richmond) handed theirs in and they backed us to get that.

"Both organisations were surprised at how soon the group gelled – we had teething problems, obviously, as happens when two organisations work together for the first time but we’re really keen, as are Richmond, to continue that going forward."

Twitter: @BRhodesVFL