Fresh Face to Lead the Eagles

The Doveton Eagles Football Club are pleased to announce the appointment of Simon Caldwell as its Senior Coach for season 2017.

Caldwell was selected from a very strong pool of candidates for the position, with his thoughts on the game and coaching philosophies providing great synergy with the club’s own ambitions for future success.

The incoming coach brings with him vast experience as both a player and a coach. Caldwell had played football at a pretty high standard with Eastern League powerhouse Vermont, before commencing his coaching career at in his early 20’s as playing-coach of South East Gippsland club Foster.

He then spent five years at the helm of Kilsyth, transforming the club from battling EFL cellar-dweller to a grand finalist in his final year. Most recently, he has been in charge of Yarra Junction in the AFL Yarra Ranges competition for the last three seasons.

Caldwell replaces veteran Corrie Wilson, who has decided to step down as coach after one just season in the role. The 2016 Flack Medallist has chosen instead to focus solely on his playing responsibilities with the Eagles, free from the added burden of coaching as he enters the twilight of his career.

Doveton Eagles President Shane McGrath said Caldwell’s appointment will strengthen the club in a number of key areas, which he believes will help the club build upon its third-place finish in 2016.

“The idea of getting Simon down with his experience and his thoughts on the game is to, I guess, make us a more professional outfit and (he will) probably take us a few steps forward in that regard,” McGrath said.

“(He’s) very experienced for a bloke his age – he’s only 36 off the top of my head – and he comes with the best part of 12 years’ senior coaching experience, which at that age is a rare thing.

“He comes with a great support staff, he’s very well organised and he’s got a lot of structures and stuff he wants to bring to the club which we think will help us moving forward.”

McGrath says at this stage Caldwell is not joining the club as a playing-coach like he predecessor, however, given it has yet to be discussed, McGrath was reluctant to rule out the possibility of the coach pulling the boots on again for a few appearances for the Eagles in 2017.

“That’s not the plan at this stage. He’s not coming at as a playing coach,” McGrath said.

“Having said that, we haven’t really spoken about him playing because that’s not really the intention, but I think he played a handful of games last year for Yarra Junction.

“He probably could (play) if he wanted to, but that’s not what we’ve discussed, not what we brought him down for.”

Caldwell has already started working with the club on some exciting developments for the coming season that will help make 2017 a huge year for the boys at Power Road.

 

Applications for the Reserves Coach of the Doveton Eagles Football Club are still being considered. For more information on the position, please call 0466 459 360.

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