The off-season has already seen a number of new coaches across the competition ahead of the 2024 season.
In William Buck Premier Men’s, Jordie McKenzie has taken the reigns of Collegians while more recently, Old Brighton has appointed Marcel Bruin and the newly-promoted Fitzroy welcomes Travis Ronaldson (stayed tuned for more news on these appointments).
VAFA Media takes a look at some of the key men’s coaching announcements across the rest of the competition.
Marcellin – Bernie Dinneen
The Marcellin Old Collegians Football Club announced the appointment of Bernie Dinneen as its Senior Men’s Head Coach back in September. A name that is very familiar in Marcellin’s history, Bernie has had an outstanding career as both a player and as a coach, and will now be looking to turn around the fortunes of the Eagles who had a disappointing 2023 season in Premier C Men’s.
Bernie was influential in the most successful period of the club’s history, playing in three Premierships and winning three VAFA Best and Fairest’s over a five-year span. In recent years he has worked in a coaching capacity at Old Trinity, St Bernard’s and most recently served as Football Director at Vermont, while also playing/coaching the Marcellin Bald Eagles in the Mecwacare Masters, guiding the team to their recent Grand Final appearance.
Hampton Rovers – Marty Pask
Also in Premier C, Hampton Rovers welcomes Marty Pask as new senior coach after Anthony Quon finished up after almost seven years in the role. Marty comes to the club with a wealth of coaching experience, having coached Balwyn, Vermont and Norwood over the past 10 years in the top division of the Eastern Football Netball League. Prior to that, he coached AJAX in Premier B for three seasons.
Following the appointment, Marty said “I am looking to forward to growing with this group of players. We want to be ambitious, curious and represent our community with a high-end football program – we want any young footballer playing in our extensive Junior program to aspire to be a Senior Player. We want our Senior players to be the best people they can be and something our community will be proud of.”
Richmond Central – Michael Motta
The Richmond Central Amateur Football Club has announced the signing of Michael Motta as Senior Men’s Coach for the 2024 season.
Michael enjoyed a long playing career in the EDFL for Avondale Heights, later moving to WRFL’s Braybrook. Having held various leadership positions at both clubs, Michael was forced to step away from playing due to multiple concussions. He has since completed his Level 1 coaching accreditation, is underway with his Level 2 course, and has enjoyed tremendous success as a head coach with West Footscray’s underage program in recent seasons.
Mentone Panthers – Brad Norton
The Mentone Panthers resurrection continues to gather momentum as they return to the VAFA in 2024, announcing their coaching panel of Brad Norton as senior coach, assisted by Tim Speers and Jamie Winduss. Brad was named senior captain of the Old Mentonians at age 19 and has spent the best part of a decade leading the Panthers with distinction. The club has also recently announced Justin Costello to the coaching panel for season 2024, along with a number of player signings.
Stay tuned for further coaching appointments across the VAFA men’s and women’s competitions as the start of 2024 pre-season training approaches.
Current available VAFA coaching positions can be found on the VAFA Jobs Board.
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