Jones has been signed for two years and it's uncertain whether the former Saints champion will also play.

Jones returns to the Casey Cardinia Football League where he twice led Narre Warren to premiership glory and developed the Magpies into the most powerful and successful club of the modern era.

The Eagles courted Jones at the time he was in the running for the Narre job and thought they had their man, but were bitterly disappointed when he signed with the Magpies.

Beaconsfield has always harboured hopes that their favourite son would one day return to coach and set them on the path to premiership glory the same way he did at Narre.

The timing was perfect as the club was desperately looking for another quality person to fill the huge gap left by the Eagles' previous coach, Robbie Taylor.

While Jones' return has the Eagles rocking, the cold reality is that he will have his work cut out in developing a club that has underachieved over recent years and hasn't won a premiership since 2004.

It's hard to work out just why the Eagles haven't been more successful.

It has talented reserves and under-18 teams which have played finals footy over the past few seasons, and have been a feeder system to the seniors but, for some reason, it hasn't translated into grand finals or premierships at senior level.

Converting the club's young talent into success on the field will be Jones' No. 1 priority.

Being one of the more cashed-up clubs, Beacy has previously recruited big-name players with limited success.

It will be interesting to see if Jones continues to go down that path or puts more emphasis on developing his younger group of players for the future.

My bet is he will develop the young guys, giving them as much match time as possible, and recruit a couple of seasoned campaigners to provide the experience, guidance, guile and know-how required to compete against the stronger clubs.

With his AFL experience and coaching record at Narre, much will be expected from Jones and nothing but a finals appearance next season would be expected by frustrated Eagles' supporters.

Aussie's return is also great for the competition and will be a drawcard whether he plays or not.

As an opposing coach, all I can say is beware of the Eagles in 2010.