By Nick Creely
The Doveton Eagles Football Club has announced its new senior coach for the 2017 season and appointed Simon Caldwell to the helm.
Caldwell, 36, was selected from a strong pool of prospective candidates for the position with his thoughts on the game and approach to coaching standing out as the right fit for the direction of the club and ambitions for future on-field success.
The newly appointed coach brings a vast amount of experience to the role, having previously coached Foster in the Alberton Football League, Kilsyth in the Eastern Football League, and most recently coaching Yarra Junction in the Yarra Valley Mountain District Football League.
Caldwell replaced veteran Corrie Wilson who has stepped down as the coach after just one season in the role.
Doveton Eagles president Shane McGrath said Caldwell’s appointment is set to strengthen the club and help propel the side to 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.
“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 said.
Simon has already begun working with the club on some new development for the coming season as the Eagles look to have on-field success in 2017.
It is expected at this stage that the position will not involve a playing capacity, but it could remain a possibility.
A date for the ‘meet the coach’ will be set by the club in the coming weeks.