EFL 2018: Heath Black steps down as Mooroolbark coach in the Eastern Football League

MOOROOLBARK coach Heath Black has explained why he has stepped down from the role after just one season.

FAMILY commitments have forced Mooroolbark coach Heath Black to step down from the role after just one season.

The former St Kilda and Fremantle footballer informed the club on Thursday night that he would be stepping down from the role, earmarking assistant Brett Lavers as his successor.

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Black said he would remain involved with the Mustangs in 2019.

Paul Hager chases the ball. Picture: Davis Harrigan

“I’ll be in an admin role at the footy club, my wife is actually 28 weeks pregnant and that’s our fourth child on the way,” Black said.

“Obviously I didn’t sign at Mooroolbark for one year, I wanted to be there as coach for longer, but I’m hoping our assistant Brett Lavers, who has been with me for three years and his offsider, or our offsider, Dale Watkins, who was the 19s coach, I hope they can take over next year.

“The exciting part for me in that role, it will probably be a co-footy manager role with Dale Watkins, is that I think I’m going to have more influence on the culture and the way the footy club needs to go.

“I think we can have a huge impact in under 12 months now the pillars have been set from a coaching point of view.

“Brett will just tweak them and make it his own but his not over the line yet, we’ll work through that process with the footy club.”

Mooroolbark was one of the most hyped clubs during the Eastern Football League pre-season after adding a long list of recruits, but the Mustangs avoided demotion by only two premiership points after logging just four wins for the year.

Grattan Stephens goes up in the ruck. Picture: Hamish Blair

The Mustangs suffered a 12-point defeat at the hands of Park Orchards on Saturday but was spared demotion after a resurgent Mulgrave was defeated by Lilydale.

Black said Mooroolbark needed to strive to be better to reach the competition’s top flight for the first time in club history.

“We believe, just the way the dog eat dog competition is going, that we need to strive to be more professional, more committed and also have the ruthless nature of being a ruthless individual as a footballer,” he said.

“Let’s be honest, it’s semi-professional, mate, people are putting their hands out for big money and if you’re putting your hand out for big money and it’s a semi-professional job, gone are the days when you can just run out and have five kicks and collect your money and go home.

“Not saying that happens at Mooroolbark but speaking to a few of the coaches in our division, there’s still that mentality at a lot of the clubs in Division 2.

“We need to go and recruit leaders, ruthless men that will come in and know what it takes to win and be committed as they need to be.

“That means we need to be methodical in who we target bringing into our footy club.”

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