GFL: Lara co-coaches Devon Smith and Shayne Stone extend deals
Newly re-signed Lara co-coach Shayne Stone said he was enjoying his time alongside fellow co-coach Devon Smith, with the former AFL star bringing ‘invaluable’ experience to the Cats.
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Newly re-signed Lara co-coach Shayne Stone said he was enjoying his time alongside fellow co-coach Devon Smith.
It is the first year the pair have led the Cats, with Stone having been a sole coach before the former Giants and Bombers forward joined the club.
Stone said that despite losing Smith to injury before the season started, having him on the sidelines as a coach has been “invaluable” for the younger players at Lara.
“I think we work pretty well together, it’s his first time coaching so he’s learning plenty,” he said.
“Ideally we would’ve loved to have him out there playing but he’s learned plenty on the coaching side of things this season, he’s done a fantastic job and he’ll only be getting better the more he does it.
“I think we’ve bounced off each other, we don’t think too differently about the game so it’s worked pretty well.”
Smith tore his achilles in a practice match ahead of the season starting, and has spent 2023 coaching from the sidelines with Stone.
Lara has a chance to improve on its 2-16 record from last season, currently 2-11 and with winnable games against Bell Park, St Albans and North Shore in the final five rounds of the season.
Stone said the group was eager to secure more points before the end of the year.
“We’ve got some games coming up where we’d like to be competitive and finish the season off with a couple of more wins,” he said.
“It’s a real focus, we want to finish the season strongly and have some optimism going into the off-season.
“I think it’s a credit to the boys, they haven’t dropped their heads at all this year and there would be a lot of teams that get to this point of the season and are almost waiting for the end of the season.”
Stone and Smith both signed one-year extensions to remain at Lara for 2024.
Originally published as GFL: Lara co-coaches Devon Smith and Shayne Stone extend deals
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