The Brumbies took a major step in healing old wounds on Monday when they confirmed they had officially added the ACT back to their name after an 18-year absence.

Larkham was part of the championship-winning side in 2004 when Brumbies bosses decided to rip the heart out of the franchise in a bid to have a broader appeal to those outside of Canberra.

At the time it fuelled debate the Brumbies would one day relocate, potentially to Melbourne, and it has been a sore point for club's long-term supporter base for almost 20 years.

But chief executive Phil Thomson said Larkham's return was the perfect time to go back to the future, declaring: "This has always been our home."

Larkham is walking back into a vastly different Brumbies environment to the one he left five years ago, let alone the one he enjoyed as player in the early 2000s.

Crowds have dwindled over the years as rugby struggled to find relevance in Australia and the Brumbies are desperate to rebuild support to match their on-field results.

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"As a young player growing up in Canberra it was always a dream to represent the ACT," Larkham said. "So this is exciting. This has always been a team from the ACT that has represent the ACT on the world stage.

"Part of my brief coming in as new head coach is to make sure that we're integrated into the community a little bit more.

"Having that change [of bringing the ACT back] is going to bring a bit of a focus as well. We have to get into schools, we've got to get back into the Canberra rugby clubs and we've got to get into the wider community.

"It's about growing the game. Firstly, making sure we're getting more participants and then growing the supporter base. We've got to get more people through the gate."

The Brumbies had resisted calls to return the ACT to their name for years, but fans spoke loudly in a survey in 2019 and voiced their support for the name change.

The club considered an immediate rebrand, but those plans were derailed by COVID-19.

"Today is a significant moment ... we're proud to call ourselves the ACT Brumbies once again," Thomson said.

"You'll see the ACT introduced to Super W and junior representative sides ... the ACT has always been the home of the Brumbies and we want to ensure everyone who is fortunate enough to call the ACT home is proud to support the Brumbies.

"It's been hard over the last couple of years to engage with the community because of COVID. With the world changing again, we believe we have an opportunity to get out there and be visible, which we hope will resonate with people coming back out."

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