By Jonty Ralphsmith
Southern Football Netball League Division 2 club Doveton has unveiled well-known club figure Matt Stapleton as its coach for the 2024 season.
Stapleton has played more than 200 games for Doveton, captaining the senior side to a premiership, with his playing career also taking in time at Coates League and VFL level, where he learned under a series of coaches including Brett Lovett.
Stapleton initially retired at the end of 2022, before deciding to play the last 12 games of the 2023 season while filling the role as football manager, which he said gave him an insight into some off-field workings.
The first time senior coach succeeds Michael Cardamone, at the helm for the previous two seasons when the Doves made a grand final and preliminary final.
“Our vision as a football club is to play at the top level of the Southern footy league, and there’s a lot of work we have to do before then, but we won’t shy away as a club from the fact that we want to get there,” Stapleton declared.
“We want to play our footy a little bit differently and bring a huge work rate and apply ourselves in everything we do to make sure we’re putting in all our efforts to be there at the pointy end of the year.
“We want to be a much higher scoring team and play a brand of footy that really excites.
“We want to add more leg-speed and take full advantage of who I see as the best ruck in the competition (Dylan Chapman).
“We were only the fifth highest scoring team this year and that’s not good enough for a team that finishes top three so we will make a concerted effort around moving the ball better.
“We’ll get to work on training those things.
“I’ll look to keep things as simple as possible but the players will be really clear on what the expectations are.
“The most important thing to me is that we’re competitive week-in week-out and that’s something we’ve always prided ourselves on as a footy club and it’s something I want to continue to focus on.”
The club started advertising for the position in mid-August and said it received a strong field of candidates.
Club legend Steve Henwood senior was the chairperson of the coaching subcommittee, with president John Stapleton, the father of Matt, stepping aside to prevent a conflict of interest.
John revealed he pondered stepping down as president with his son assuming the coaching role, but was encouraged to stay in the position.
“It’s a consideration,” John said.
“If you’re going to say that he got it because I’m president, you don’t know what’s going on within the club.
“I’m not going to be able to stop people saying that, neither is Matt.
“It’s not a concern, but people will make their own comments about that and I said to Matt you need to worry about the job at hand and what you want to achieve and the job you do will silence any of the knockers.”
Matt’s genuine passion for the club, esteemed training standards and established respect within the group all stood out during the interview process.
Henwood provided an insight into what the club was looking for in its coach.
While not wedded to a non-playing coach, it was the clear preference.
Cardamone was a playing coach in 2022 and early in 2023 before taking up the role from the sidelines.
Appointing a coach who would put an emphasis on fitness in preseason and have a strong plan for training match-day were considerations.
After being plagued by late omissions between Thursday night training and game-day in 2023, player selection was also a key discussion point during the two-hour meeting last week.
Stapleton found out he got the job on the weekend.
Steve Henwood junior will be part of Stapleton’s panel with further announcements to be made in due course.
