Central District coach Roy Laird has quit as coach after 17 seasons and seven SANFL premierships
After 17 years and seven premierships, Central District coach Roy Laird has announced to his players he will be drawing the curtains on his decorated career at the club.
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Roy Laird is to end his 17-year tenure as Central District coach at the end of the season.
The seven-times premiership coach cited results as the reason for his decision to end the second longest uninterrupted coaching stint in SANFL history behind Jack Oatey, who was at Sturt from 1962-82.
The Bulldogs failed to qualify for the finals last year for just the second season under Laird and they have won only two of their 11 games this season.
Laird told his players of his decision before training on Monday night so the club can start the process to find his replacement.
“Results wise it has not been good enough,” said Laird, easily the longest serving coach in the competition who will stay in charge for the final seven games, starting with North Adelaide at Elizabeth Oval on Saturday.
Laird played 87 league games for the Bulldogs and coached the club’s reserves to the 2002 flag, before replacing current Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson as league coach the following season.
The Bulldogs won seven flags under Laird. Only Jack Cahill and Jack Oatey with 10 and Fos Williams with nine have more SANFL grand final victories as coach.
As is Laird’s habit, he played down his role with the Bulldogs despite his incredible record.
“I feel honoured and privileged to be able to play a small part in the very strong and proud football club,” he said.
“I feel I was nowhere near ready to take over as coach, but I fell into a great group of players, I got lucky. I was one of the fortunate ones to have had a great start and great experiences from Peter Jonas and Clarko beforehand.”
Jonas created history as the first premiership coach at the Bulldogs when he took the club to the 2000 flag. Clarkson was in charge when they repeated the triumph in 2001.
The Bulldogs’ board met on Monday night to discuss the coaching position.