Locked in: AFL great Gary Ayres to coach Montrose in Eastern league

The former Hawthorn champion and AFL and VFL coach will join his great mate Rodney Eade in Eastern ranks.

Gary Ayres singing the song after a Port Melbourne finals victory in 2019.

The great Gary Ayres is heading to the Eastern Football League.

The former Geelong and Adelaide AFL coach and Port Melbourne VFL coach today accepted the senior position at Division 1 club Montrose.

Ayres, 60, had a number of good offers to weigh up after his surprising departure from Port.

He said the prospect of leading Montrose back into the top division of Eastern and the professionalism of the club prompted him to join the Demons.

“The vision that they have at the Montrose footy club, and the professionalism they displayed throughout the course of our conversations, were very impressive,’’ Ayres said.

“Where they’re at, and where they could possibly end up, that’s what they’re setting out to achieve.

“They’ve got a good junior program and where they saw I could fit in, it came up as a good fit and a good package.’’

Ayres will join his former Hawthorn teammate and fellow ex-AFL coach Rodney Eade in Eastern.

He said he had always held the competition in high regard.

Gary Ayres and Toby Pinwill lift the 2017 VFL premiership cup.

Two other Eastern clubs, as well as clubs from other competitions, pursued Ayres, who said he took his time to assess the approaches.

He said all the people he had spoken to had been professional and respectful, and showed great passion for their clubs and local football.

“All the options were very, very good. It was a pretty tough decision in the end,’’ Ayres said.

“I went on what was presented and of course you go on a bit on gut-feel as well.’’

Ayres said he saw it as a challenge to lift Montrose to Premier ranks, where it last competed in 2019. It was relegated with a 1-17 record.

This year in Division 1 it finished fifth at 6-5 under the coaching of Peter Bastinac, who parted way with the club two weeks ago.

“It’s about setting the foundation, the standards and expectations, and clearly recruiting comes into it,’’ he said.

“Development comes into it and the growth of the whole club comes into it, because you want sustained success.’’

Ayres came out of country club Warragul, and he said he was looking forward to getting back involved in grassroots football.

Ayres was told at the end of July that Port Melbourne would not be giving him another contract.

He coached the Borough from 2008, taking them to two premierships, two other grand finals, and finals in 11 of his 12 completed seasons.

Port and the VFL awarded life membership to Ayres, who played in five premierships for the Hawks.

Montrose said this afternoon that to have someone of Ayres’ stature at the club “is a fantastic step forward and will bring an exciting injection of energy, optimism to our entire community, in a time when people really need inspiration’’.

“2022 is the club’s centenary year, we could not be in better hands,’’ the Demons said.