Former Essendon onballer Sam Lonergan named coach of Woodville-West Torrens
A FORMER Essendon and Glenelg onballer has been signed as Woodville-West Torrens coach for the next two years, taking on the job vacated by Michael Godden as the Eagles continue their bid for compensation over the 19th man preliminary final fiasco.
FORMER Essendon and Glenelg midfielder Sam Lonergan has been confirmed as the Woodville-West Torrens coach for the next two years.
Lonergan, 31, has replaced Michael Godden, who was at the Eagles for nine years before accepting an assistant’s role with Adelaide after the controversial preliminary final loss to North Adelaide.
And there is still no resolution in the Eagles’ bid for compensation in the wake of the 19th man drama when the Roosters had an extra man on the field for the first four minutes of the final quarter.
North’s win was upheld by the SANFL tribunal, prompting the Eagles to lodge paperwork with the SANFL demanding significant compensation for being denied a spot in the grand final. Legal representatives for the Eagles and SANFL met on Wednesday night and will have another meeting next week.
Lonergan made 81 appearances for Essendon and Richmond before playing 29 games for Glenelg in 2014 and 2015. He was also the midfield coach with Glenelg and for the past two years has been Launceston coach.
“It’s exciting,” Lonergan said. “To be honest that was one of the major attractions to the footy club, the fact two coaches in 18 years tells me a fair bit about the football club and how they operate.
“As a senior coach you have to make sure you can reach all parts of your organisation and make sure that everyone’s engaged and they have that really family first mentality.
“I won’t be coming in, shifting a great deal, but will be trying to assist the great work that Michael has done in the past nine years.
“It is very important to be adaptable and being able to have a side that can explore things in live time during games. If you get stuck with one game style, by mid-season that can come unstuck and all of a sudden you are trying to change.
“We’ll train very hard on multiple ways to move the ball and also defend so we become difficult for the opposition to analyse us as well as being able to move the ball in a few different ways, whether we need to be controlled or we need to add speed.”
The Eagles’ decision to put their faith in Lonergan follows the appointment of Nathan Grima, 34, as coach of Sturt.