CARDROSS’ new Millewa Football League coaches have paid tribute to their predecessor Andrew Willison.
Connor Lynch and Damien Ford will take the reins at the Lions for 2021 and hope to build on the grounding Willison has given the once-struggling Millewa club.
“He’s given the best foundation for us right now. How he’s set the club up and the playing group we can’t thank him enough, and he’s still involved behind the scenes,” Lynch, 26, said. “The biggest improvement was the culture, and ‘Fordy’ and I are here to improve it again and build off what ‘Willo’ has given this club.”
While Lynch will be entering his fifth season at the club, former South Mildura SFNL skipper Ford embarks on his second campaign after crossing to the Millewa club in 2019.
“I obviously came here for ‘Willo’ – he coached me at South Mildura and he got me to the club,” the 28-year-old said.
“I loved it. I loved everything about it. The little bit of relaxed feel about footy was really good, I loved the boys, they got around me and made me feel welcome.
“I could see the club was building in the right direction.”
While he has leadership experience on-field, Ford said coaching would be a challenge.
“I love footy. I think about it constantly, but it’s stepping out of my comfort zone a little bit because I’m not the greatest communicator,” he said.
“When Connor decided to go for the role and asked me for help I thought it was a great opportunity to jump on board and why not now when the club was looking for a coach and my mate was looking for some help?”
Lynch, who started his career with Imperials in the SFNL, said making a grand final would be the aim for the group come the new season.
“We finished third a couple of years ago and the ultimate goal now is to get this playing group together and go that step further,” he said.
Club president Josh Cole said the club was pleased with the appointment of co-coaches with plenty of football left in them.
“We’re really happy. We’ve got a couple of young guys now,” he said.
“It just gives a bit of a fresh direction, at least.”
Cole said the club was grateful for Willison’s contributions and signalled he’d still have some involvement going forward.
“He’ll be a bit of a mentor for those guys and will still not be too far away,” Cole said.
Meanwhile, one of the side’s inaugural women’s captains, Chelsea Humphrey, has stepped up to co-coach the club’s Sunraysia Women’s Football League team with coach Ian Sandiman, who took on the role in 2019.
