Teka officially agreed to terms with the club on Wednesday morning and will look to mould a squad capable of challenging for the Canberra Raiders Cup.

The nuggetty five-eighth, who steered Tumut to a grand final win in 2008, said he was relishing the challenge the role had to offer and looked forward to playing football in front of passionate supporters.

“I’m pretty excited about it all. It’s a great opportunity. Yass is a small town but it has a big fan base and plenty of loyal supporters turn up each week,” he said.

Teka failed to pour too much pressure on his squad and said his main goal, above all, was to make sure everyone enjoyed themselves.

“We’re yet to finalise the squad for next year but once we do I’d like to sit down as a team and talk about what we want to achieve. My main goal is to see people having a good time. If we can do that, the results will probably follow,” he said.

Teka, who played for Queanbeyan Blues in the 2009 season, told the Tribune he was impressed with the potential of the Yass based outfit, pointing to his team’s 40-20 round 10 loss to the Magpies as proof.

“There’s obviously talent there. I remember the Magpies hammered us at Seiffert Oval and they were pretty excited about that,” he said. “The realisation that Yass has the potential to keep up with the best sides is there, we just need to focus on the importance of being consistent,” he said.

Joining Teka at the helm of the Magpies in 2010 will be offsider Damian Booker, a fellow premiership winner with the Tumut Blues. Teka informed the Tribune Booker had accepted an assistant coach role

In a double dose of good news for the club, tough front rower and best and fairest winner, Marcus Wikaira, has signed on for next season while a number of regular starters are expected follow suit in the coming weeks.

Yass Magpies secretary, David O’Brien, said the club was over-the-moon with the signing. “He’s a coach with a lot of credentials. You’ve only got to look at what he did with Tumut last year,” he said. “Jarrad will bring strong work ethic with him and hopefully build on this year.”