BRAD Swain is the new man charged with bringing Maribyrnong Park back into Strathmore Community Bank Premier Division finals contention in 2021.
The 36-year-old is set to replace Dean Laidley in the top job after serving two years as an assistant at Monk Oval.
Club president Andrew Brockfield confirmed the appointment to club members and the general public earlier this evening.
See Maribyrnong Park’s full statement below.
It gives me great pleasure to announce that the club has appointed Brad Swain as our new Senior Men's Coach for 2021.
Brad has been with us for the past two years as our Senior Assistant Coach and would have coached the senior men's program if a condensed season 2020 went ahead.
At just 36-years-old, Brad has a wealth of senior footy coaching experience at local and state league level including 3 years at Port Melbourne in the VFL and is a Level 3 AFL High Performance accredited coach. Brad has also worked in community recreation leadership and will take a whole club approach to his role, working with our junior coordinators and coaches to ensure that we continue to develop and support our players and coaches.
The club committee are really excited by the experience and work ethic that Brad will provide to our football programs right throughout the club; ultimately leading to greater enjoyment, participation and development of all Marby players.
Brad's initial focus over the next few months will be re-engaging our young but talented senior men's playing squad, ensuring they are in the best possible headspace and physical conditioning to attack the 2021 EDFL Premier Division season.
A message from our new Head Coach:
I am delighted to accept the position of Head Coach at Maribyrnong Park Football Club.
My hope is that the prospect of community footy in 2021 fills us with great optimism. The club committee has dealt with this horrible year with absolute professionalism and that is one of the reasons I have agreed to take on this role.
My commitment to the club is that we will provide every opportunity for our players to grow and perform individually and as a united team, playing squad, and club.
In my experience the Marby family is unique and has many of the hallmarks of successful clubs. We currently have a youthful and talented group of senior men's players that are enormously coachable and have considerable upside in the years to come. The club's very first season of senior women's footy in 2019 was incredibly exciting and the volume of the junior programs across boys and girls footy is equally impressive. I look forward to the opportunity to work with all of the club's coaches in the coming months to ensure we are continuing to develop quality programs at all levels.
In the last few days I have been speaking with all of the senior men's players and I can summarise their current sentiment for you here:
- they miss the game
- they miss the club
- and they miss having a kick with their mates
Sometimes we don't realise what we have until it is taken away from us and I think that is certainly true of many things this year, including footy.
The future at our club is bright and I look forward to working with the whole Marby family in the coming months as we prepare for season 2021.
Thank you for supporting your child's participation in our great game and I look forward seeing them progress their love of the sport and the club in 2021 and beyond.
