EFL Division 4: Forest Hill coach Justin Scicluna to step down

Zebras mentor Justin Scicluna explains his decision to step down at season’s end, as his club hunts an EFL Division 4 finals berth.

FOREST HILL senior playing-coach Justin Scicluna has called time on his tenure as the Zebras hunt a spot in the Eastern league Division 4 finals.

The mentor of four years will step down from his post at season’s end, bringing an end to a stint which began in 2019.

Scicluna served as playing-assistant to Martin Stillman from 2014-2018 before taking over in the head role. He joined the club in 2010 from Knox, later serving three years as vice-captain and believes the “timing was right” to “take a step back” from a coaching career spanning 18 years.

Forest Hill coach Justin Scicluna. Picture: Davis Harrigan

“I made a decision before we played Kilsyth (the second time) to just take a step back … I’ve been doing it since I was 14 years old, so 18 years of coaching when it started from the juniors and moved into the seniors,” Scicluna said.

“The timing was right so I’m looking forward to it.”

Scicluna said while he still intended on playing next season, a formal decision had not yet been reached.

“I haven’t made any decision on what I’m going to do at the end of the season, right now my focus is this season and the Forest Hill footy club’s been fantastic to me, so I’ll be forever in debt to them and I’m looking forward to what the end of the year holds,” he said.

The Zebras sit a game clear in fourth and remain hot in the finals race following the weekend’s 78-point victory over second-placed Chirnside Park.

Ben Rudd fired with five goals in a best afield display alongside wingman Noah McCartin-Collins who bagged three.

Scicluna owed the result to “consistency across four quarters”.

“Our message to the group as a coaching staff is that our best has been good enough, we’ve been able to take it to those top sides but we just hadn’t been able to put it together consistency for more than half a game,” he said.

“Saturday was the first time we had won four quarters of footy and our best was on display and it really shone through … we’ve been bullish in our four walls knowing our best has been good enough.”

The Zebras take on fifth-placed Kilsyth this weekend, who sit just four points and percentage outside the top four. Matches against Surrey Park (third) and Nunawading (last) follow.

“It’s good to see it (consistency) come through now getting towards the pointy end of the season … whilst it’s history what happened last Saturday, hopefully we can learn and build on that on Saturday against Kilsyth,” Scicluna said.