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MARYBOROUGH has joined the list of Bendigo Football-Netball League clubs that will have a new senior coach next year and is hopeful of having an appointment confirmed by the end of this week.
The Magpies have been on the hunt for a replacement for Rick Andrews after he informed the club he would be resigning.
Andrews signed with the Magpies in September last year for three years, but his tenure has ended after just one season.
"Rick has resigned for family and work reasons," Maryborough president Kelvin Noonan said on Wednesday.
"He works in the education department and is taking on some extra roles and found it difficult this year, so he thought it best to make this decision, which we have to accept and move on.
"The club is disappointed that Rick hasn't been able to fulfill his three years in which we originally engaged with him, but we understand and respect the reasons why he is unable to continue. Family and work should always take precedent over football and that is the situation here.
"It put us in a quandary initially, but we have worked really hard to discuss the matter as a group and talk to various people about the position and we're in the midst at the moment of negotiating very firmly to appoint a replacement coach."
We're in the midst at the moment of negotiating very firmly to appoint a replacement coach
- Kelvin Noonan
It was a tough season on the field for the Magpies, who again faced a battle with numbers.
The senior side was winless in what was the first completed BFNL season since 2019, but a major step forward for the club was a return of its under-18 side.
The Magpies hadn't fielded an under-18 side since 2016, but in its return season the team qualified for the finals.
"We were really happy with our under-18s making the finals for the first time in a long time. The group really found some legs over the course of the year and were a bit unlucky to be beaten in the first final (extra time loss to Strathfieldsaye in the elimination final)," Noonan said.
Maryborough is joining Castlemaine (Brendan Shepherd), Gisborne (Brad Fox) and Kangaroo Flat (Nathan Johns) as clubs that will have new senior coaches next year, while Bryce Curnow has joined Sandhurst as co-coach with Ashley Connick.
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