But after spending a few years watching from the side-lines, the halfback has decided to make a comeback.

The former Forbes Magpie has signed on to captain-coach the Trundle Boomers in the upcoming Woodbridge Cup season.

"I'm good mates with Hally (Adam Hall) and we were talking about golf and asked if I was going to have a run at footy this year," Roylance said.

"I initially said no, then he asked If I wanted to come out to Trundle. I thought about it for a bit and got back to him to say that if I did it, I wouldn't mind captain-coaching out there and that was about it."

Having never played in the Woodbridge Cup, Roylance knows it will be a bit of a change. But after a few years out of the game, that has only made him more excited to lace up the boots once more.

"It was meant to be full retirement," he said of his time away from footy.

"I pretty much had to convince my wife to let me go. I had a couple of years off and we moved down to the coast, then we came back but I didn't really play.

"Then we had the year of COVID and I didn't play last year. I always wanted to have one more year but I didn't know if it was going to happen or not."

The Boomers had played in and won three consecutive premierships from 2017 to 2019, but COVID cancellations in 2020 and 2021 meant they didn't get a chance to go four-in-a-row.

When asked what he knew of the competition, Roylance said "only what I've been told by Hally."

"I've been told there's a few strong teams this year. Canowindra and Manildra are pretty strong and Eugowra as well. He's said it's tough footy as well, which is good.

"Now that I've signed the contract, I want to retain all the boys that were there for the last few years. Hopefully they stick around and footy-wise, I'd like to think we can give it a decent shake with the side that we're looking at. If we weren't top three or thereabouts I would be a little bit disappointed."

Roylance has experience coaching the Forbes under 18s before and has captained the odd team or two, but has never played the role of a side's captain-coach.

"I'm excited and a little bit nervous," he said.

"I'm just looking forward to working with the older blokes. Adam said they're pretty tight out there and that all the families get along.

"Then hopefully the younger boys coming through, I've heard there's a young five-eighth in Mitch Wright and I haven't seen him play before but hopefully I can show him a few things. By the sounds of it there's a few good young footballers out there.

"Because I had no intentions of playing, I've only just got back into training full time and eating better, so hopefully the body holds up."

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