A succession plan is in place at a reigning SFNL premier

A succession plan is now in place at a Southern league reigning premier, with its current coach preparing for his final season at the helm. Here are all the details.

Michael Kinsella shares a hug with good mate and former coach Liam Wilson. Picture: Tyler Lewis

A succession plan is in place at Murrumbeena.

Premiership coach Michael Kinsella will steer the Lions for the second and final time in 2025 before handing the reins to highly-regarded and new assistant coach Shane Joyce.

Kinsella was an assistant coach himself before taking over from Liam Wilson at the end of 2023.

He took the Lions to a long-awaited Southern league Division 2 premiership and lost just one game in 2024.

They also won the reserves, under-19 and open grade premierships in Kinsella’s year as senior coach.

Kinsella said leaving his post with the club in a healthier position was “always the plan”.

“I am a big believer in leaving a place in a better position than when you found it,” he said.

“Being an assistant to Liam Wilson for two years and then a senior coach for another two, the boys are probably getting sick of my voice.

“Finding a really strong replacement leaves the place in a really strong position for the future, which was always the plan.

“Taking us from Divvy 3 is a huge achievement but the next step is now trying to be a contender in Divvy 1 – I think we’ve found the right person in Shane to do that.”

Michael Kinsella (R) and Jordan Pollard lift the 2024 premiership cup. Picture: Valeriu Campan

Joyce was an assistant coach at University Blacks and prior to that took Collegians from the brink of relegation to two successive grand finals.

He was unlucky not to be a dual premiership coach at Collegians, losing both grand finals by a collective margin of eight points.

Joyce’s son Xavier played under-19s at Murrumbeena last year which made Kinsella’s search for a successor easy.

“He’s (Joyce) been an assistant coach for a few years while his boys were in school and now they’re getting to an older age he’s ready to become a senior coach again,” Kinsella said.

“I reached out to Shane, we had a couple of coffee catch-ups, I thought he was the right person and put it to our committee.

“He’s highly-credentialed and quite an impressive person – it really just took care of itself.”

Kinsella reflected on the conversations he had over a year ago with then departing coach Liam Wilson.

He wasn’t sure about senior coaching but is glad to have taken the leap.

“Liam Wilson really pushed me to put my hand up to coach, it actually took some convincing but once I started I absolutely loved it,” he said.

“Being my home club, having such strong connections, you get involved in so many things outside of football that you do get a bit burnt out and tired.

“I knew there was an expiry date on coaching at your own club and four years is plenty.”

Shane Joyce will coach the Lions in 2026. Picture: Chris Eastman

Kinsella, who has acted as coach, footy operations manager and recruiter over the past year, says he will still be around Murrumbeena in 2026 supporting the club.

He longs to see it grow from a Division 1 participant to power over the next decade.

“I’ll support the boys and help with list management for the first year at least because I have been doing that for four years now,” he said.

“I will help Shane with that transition from the VAFA to Southern because it’s obviously quite different.

“I am really proud of where the club is at and we’re probably going to have two women’s teams next year, an under-19s, firsts, seconds, thirds.

“We’ve got brand new clubrooms, brand new lights and scoreboard, the club is in a really strong position to solidify itself as a Division 1 club.

“Hopefully in 10 years we look back and it’s been a powerhouse of Division 1.”

As for what is next? Kinsella hopes to get into a pathway program like the VFL or Coates Talent League where he can apply his nous in an on-field focused way.