Monash Blues lock in senior coaching duo

Mark Passador will enter his fifth year in charge at Monash Blues after the club recently announced his reappointment as senior men’s coach.

Passador, who joined the Blues in 2017 after a coaching stint at Old Scotch, will be searching for a finals berth in Premier C next season after the side suffered relegation with four wins in 2019.

In an article written by Nellie O’Shea Carre on the club’s website, Passador said he’s enjoyed “trying to help [the players] get better, both on and off the field”.

“Obviously, it will be a different preseason up until Christmas, and then hopefully once we get back into things in February it will be full steam ahead,” he said.

“The benefit is that it looks like we will have a pretty consistent group to the previous year, so in terms of how we want to play, most of the guys will be across that which will be good.”

Prior to his coaching career, Passador played A Grade football for Scotch, and won premierships with Woodville West Torrens, Box Hill Hawks and Springvale. He was awarded the Fothergill-Round Medal as the VFL’s Most Promising Player in 1999 and was rookie-listed by Carlton FC.

The club also announced the reappointment of senior women’s coach, Ian Mills, as they look to snare their first grand final appearance following two years of preliminary final action in Premier B. On both occasions, the Monash women fell to the eventual premiers – Caulfield Grammarians (2019) and St Mary’s Salesian (2018).

“The flag’s always going to sit there, but the priority is that the girls have fun, they improve, they feel that each week they’re fronting up to a hard fought contest and that they are really well prepared for that,” Mills said in the club’s announcement.

“And if we do that week in and week out, I feel that the collective strength of the group takes you closer to winning a flag.”

The Blues said that while they planned to field three women’s teams for the first time in 2020, they will now enter two next year following the COVID-19 pandemic.

To read the club’s full article, click HERE