EFNL Division 3 2024: Ferntree Gully coach Brent Kiker to step down at season’s end
Ferntree Gully will soon enter the market for a senior coach following Brent Kiker’s call to step down. The mentor of five years discusses his decision ...
Eastern
Don't miss out on the headlines from Eastern. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Ferntree Gully senior coach Brent Kiker will step down from his post of five years at the end of the season.
Appointed at the end of 2019 following two years as an assistant, Kiker, whose first two seasons in charge were wiped due to Covid, declared “the time is right for me to move on”.
He said he wanted to inform the club early in order for it to begin its search for its next coach. The players were told of his decision last Thursday.
“To be honest, I thought it might’ve been my last season, coming in,” Kiker said.
“Five years I think is enough – there were a couple of Covid seasons but you’re still doing the pre-seasons.
“I didn’t want the club to be last in the pecking order (for a coach), so I wanted to give the club every opportunity to go and find the right fit.”
Kiker, who featured in Wantirna South’s 1996 premiership side, steered the Eagles to the Division 3 grand final last year.
He said while his only regret was 2020 when there was no football played, he was most proud of the list’s rejuvenation during his time at the helm.
“When I did take over, we had Covid and it was a tricky time for the club as far as the age demographic,” Kiker said.
“We had a lot of guys in that 28 to 34 (age bracket) then we had a lot of 18, 19 and 20-year-olds.
“Our challenge – myself, Jackson Gardiner (president) and Graham Gardiner (football operations manager) – was bringing the kids through, and that was our main objective, getting games into them, being competitive and not dropping off.
“I’m pretty proud that we’ve managed to do that – it’s not easy to be in third division trying to hold onto these kids either – the higher-division clubs circle every pre-season.
“It’s a real challenge to make sure we’re doing the right things on and off the field to make sure these guys are in a good environment.
“I’m proud of creating a really good environment for these kids to come through and play a good brand of footy.”
Kiker said coaching again wasn’t in his immediate plans.
“Not at this stage,” he said.
“Never say never, but I think it’ll be good to have a year off.
“Coaching takes a lot of energy, especially now, and every year it seems to get more involved.
“But I’ve had unwavering support from the committee, Jackson Gardiner, Graham Gardiner and the players as well.”
Ferntree Gully’s season has been cruelled by injury, but it remains an outside chance for the finals, sitting two games and percentage from the top five in eighth with five wins and 10 losses.
Three home-and-away games remain, with the Eagles pitted against current top-five teams Coldstream, Knox and Oakleigh District.
“We really want to finish the season off well and mathematically we’re still a chance of playing finals, but we’re all still fully committed to that,” Kiker said.
Kiker added the job was an attractive prospect for the club’s next coach and hoped the players could achieve premiership success.
“There would be nothing sweeter than seeing these kids come on, and go up through the divisions which was always the dream.”
Grand final wins and a shock or two
Finals accelerated in local footy with plenty of grand final winners as elsewhere there were stunning results as teams looked to qualify for the decider. Here are the talking points from Saturday’s football.
Ex-VFL man wins Vermont’s top job
The Eastern league’s most successful club has wasted no time appointing its next senior coach following the exit of Adam Parker, with a former state league assistant taking the reins.