Local footy: VAFA power University Blues searching for new coach for 2021
Just weeks after locking in a senior coach for 2021, a top-flight VAFA club is on the hunt again.
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University Blues have been forced to make a coaching little more than two months after locking in Steve Grace for two seasons.
Grace has secured a new employment opportunity as head of sport at Caulfield Grammar.
While the experienced mentor was keen to fulfil his commitment at the Blues, club president Tim Rourke said his new employer ruled against it, with Grace having to step aside.
Caulfield Grammarians will face Uni Blues in the Victorian Amateur Football Association’s top flight next season after winning the Premier B flag in 2019.
Rourke said Caulfield Grammar wanted to ensure Grace was “fully committed”.
“He’s got two young kids, he’s got to do it, so he has no choice,” Rourke said.
“It’s exactly what he wanted. He went for the job in June, didn’t get it, and then the guy that got it pulled out.”
Grace was appointed as coach in September, taking over from the highly-rated Heath Jamieson, who steered the Blues to their first top-flight flag in 15 years last season.
Grace has held coaching roles with AFL clubs Fremantle, Collingwood and the Western Bulldogs, led VFL club Footscray and NAB League outfit Oakleigh Chargers and worked in several roles at Sandringham.
His VAFA experience with Ormond, which he coached to two flags in three seasons, made him the perfect fit for the role.
But Rourke said a decision on the new coach was imminent.
“You can’t do much about it,” he said.
“We’re super excited that we’ve got a guy that is every bit as credentialed and well regarded.”
The club’s premiership team featured nine ex-AFL players – Josh Green, Cameron O’Shea, Ayce Cordy, Luke Russell, Ross Young, Tom Young, Kieran Harper, Jeremy Taylor and Piers Flanagan.
Green and Taylor have since departed, but the Blues have gained former AFL pair Jay Kennedy-Harris and Sam Grimley.
Rourke said the Blues’ star-studded senior group remained intact.
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