EFNL 2023: Scott Savage appointed Waverley Blues coach
A dual Waverley Blues premiership hero and two-time best and fairest winner will coach the Eastern Division 2 club in 2024.
Eastern
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The Waverley Blues have looked to a great as their next senior coach following the exit of the club’s flag-winning mentor.
Dual Blues premiership player Scott Savage will steer the Division 2 club in 2024 after premiership coach Tom Langford stepped down from his post of four years.
Savage served as senior assistant under Langford in three of his four seasons in charge, and featured in the club’s 2000 and ‘05 flags, winning best-and-fairests in 1999 and 2004.
The Blues won the 2022 Division 3 premiership before a finals berth in Division 2 this year, finishing second at the end of the home-and-away season with a 12-6 record.
Savage will embark on his maiden stint as a senior coach and said he was keen to build on the club’s recent success.
“Being involved in that footy club pretty much all my life since a junior … I thought as an ex-player, premiership player, captain and best and fairest winner, why not give this (the senior coaching role) a crack?” Savage said.
“I thought I could do justice to the group, take it on board and continue what we’ve been doing.
“The old saying is ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t try and fix it’, (and) I just want to continue that (attacking) style of football that we have, but also add a few tweaks of my own.”
The former captain declared he would get to work on addressing the club’s straight-sets exit from this year’s finals series, with the Blues’ campaign ending at the hands of Heathmont in the semi-final.
“I want to keep that attacking style, but generate some different game modes – last season we got beaten heavily in the finals and I want to bring in some style of how to stop teams getting run-ons and play to the clock,” Savage said.
“There were a few games last year where we lost in the last few minutes of games.”
The incoming coach said expectations remained high, as 90 per cent of the playing list had re-signed for next season, with the exception of premiership defender Ben Turner who has retired.
Meanwhile, 2019 flag wingman Jayson Miller has returned to the club after time at Bairnsdale.
“The ultimate goal is always to win it … finishing second last season was a credit to the program that Tom ran, and the expectation isn’t any less,” Savage said.
Waverley Blues head of football operations Ben Carboni lauded Savage’s appointment as “a big coup for the club”.
“To be honest, it’s not often you have a life member apply for the senior coaching role – I don’t know too many clubs who have that luxury,” Carboni said.
“He’s been at the footy club for 25, 30 years I think.
“We weren’t any different with Scott in terms of the interview process – we went through other interview processes with other candidates, and we didn’t spare Scott the pain that causes.
“To have someone like that, with the passion he has for the footy club and his will to do it, it’s pretty hard not to back.”
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