2013 COACHES OF THE YEAR

The VAFA Coaches of the year were presented at the 2013 AGM Dinner with Ian Aitken of Kew winning the Senior Coach of the Year and Steve D’Andrea of St Bedes/Mentone Tigers winning the Junior Coach of the Year Awards for 2013.

Steve D’Andrea with VAFA Board Member George Voyage

Aitken piloted Kew to their first senior premiership since 1979 when Kew won the Division 3 flag and he oversaw the football department of a club that won three premierships in 2013. Aitken was also coach of the Champion (undefeated all season) Kew Giants who won the Under 18 competition.
As was also revealed last night, Aitken also coached the Kew Rovers Under 14 side to a premiership in 2013, all in all it was a remarkable season of success.
Aitken thanked the support of the club and the VAFA for the award.
“It really is quite humbling winning an award like this, the effort to get Kew back from where they were were a few seasons ago and delivering the club its first senior premiership in 34 years is a team effort and the support of the club and indeed the players for working so hard cannot be overstated” said Aitken.
Steve D’Andrea was equally humbled in being named the Junior Coach of the year for his efforts in guiding St Bedes/Mentone Tigers to the Under 19 Premier Section premiership.
The Tigers had lost all three previous encounters with Old Xaverians in 2013 before managing to beat them in the final match of the year by just 6 points.
“All year we were learning, we learnt a little about ourselves and about Xavs in each of those losses and we found out what needed to change in order to beat them and we were lucky and good enough to implement that on the day” D’Andrea told to room.