Eaton staying at Bulldogs with Daniels and Monti still there, for now

Golden Square’s off-season has been plagued by rumours about its coach’s future and whether some players would stay onboard. The club address the talk.

Kai Daniels future at Golden Square is still up in the air. Picture Yuri Kouzmin

Golden Square coach Brad Eaton says he isn’t going anywhere and his players are also staying.

The 2023 Bendigo league premiers have been the talk of the town in the off-season with persistent rumours.

Some have been on the mark while others have been a mile away and now the club wants to set the record straight.

The first was Eaton was on the way out.

He took over from Christian Carter at the end of 2023 and led the team to the semi-finals last year.

Golden Square celebrates its thrilling win over Sandhurst in the Bendigo league grand final at the QEO in 2023. Picture: SAA Imaging

Eaton said at no stage was the club looking to move him on.

“That was news to me when the president reached out and said he heard it (the rumour),” he said.

“No one had mentioned it to me, even among mates. It was interesting to hear that, I don’t know where it has come from.

“I’m still coaching and happy to be involved. The club came to me at the end of last year and said ‘you want to do it again’?

“I said I’ll do it again for 2025 and they said ‘do you want to do it for three years’. I said that’s a long time in football, so we agreed on two.”

Eaton said this year’s off-season has been less stressful than last year.

The assistant in the 2023 premiership had to spend a lot of time trying to get the club back on track for 2024 with key players leaving.

This off-season has been all about building on 2024 and focusing on the future with the majority of the squad staying.

“This year we’ve had a bit more stability in retention of players and understanding each other better,” he said.

“We’ve had a headstart in terms of where we started at pre-season and do a little bit more in terms of structure and game plan.”

But it hasn’t been perfect.

A couple of players, who re-signed with Golden Square, have looked to move elsewhere.

Ricky Monti and Kai Daniels have agreed to join Cohuna and Pyramid Hill respectively while there were rumours of Macey Eaton, Brad’s son, joining Natte Bealiba.

Ricky Monti playing for Waratah in the 2024-25 NTFL season. His future at Golden Square is unknown. Picture: Celina Whan / AFLNT Media

Eaton has emphatically said his son will stay and has trained with the club in recent weeks.

The other two are a bit more complicated.

They could join Tom Toma (Cohuna) and Jack Threlfall (Harcourt) in leaving the club but for now they remain.

“I’m good friends with Kai and Ricky, they are boys I’ve had a good relationship with and are mates with my son,” Eaton said.

“I’m close to and I adore both of them and I'll have a relationship with them long into the future irrespective of where they play their footy.

“There’s a balancing act of trying to make sure you don’t tarnish relationships that are going to be long term.”

Eaton said the club hasn’t ruled out approving clearances for both players but no clear decision has been made on both.

The coach added the situation with Monti and Daniels were different to each other and would be dealt with accordingly.

Regardless of whether both play, one plays or neither do, Eaton said the club was in a good position heading into 2025.

“From our point of view we have so many 19 to 23 year olds in the team who are getting better,” he said.

“They’ve had 12 months together, two preseasons together, so I think there’s definitely a lot of growth in our group.

“It’s going to be a very tough competition.

“You can’t have too many lapses and you have to be on your game very week.

“We have the personal to do that and we are in a good shape to do it (have success).”