Thomastown signs former Oak Park coach Ben Chapman to lead its push for NFL flag

THOMASTOWN has set its sights on NFL success after confirming former Oak Park coach Ben Chapman as Dean Sinclair’s successor as senior coach.

After three years at Oak Park, Ben Chapman has signed as senior coach at Thomastown. Picture: Mark Dadswell.

THOMASTOWN has set its sights on Northern Football League success after confirming former Oak Park coach Ben Chapman as Dean Sinclair’s successor as senior coach.

Chapman accepted the Bears’ top job last Friday and was last night unveiled having signed a two-year deal.

He is highly-regarded at Main Street Reserve after being part of Sinclair’s coaching staff which led the club to glory in 2008.

“He’s excited with the way the club’s heading,” Bears president Peter Cooper said.

“He’s been watching us the last three years and he’s pretty excited that we’re not far away from the next step.”

After consecutive fifth-placed finishes, Cooper said a finals berth was the club’s priority in 2017 as the first step toward a Division 2 premiership.

“We believe we’ve got the nucleus of a really good side,” he said.

“We’ve got a lot of depth, our reserves won back to back premierships.

“We feel we will just add a bit of cream on the cake and the sky is the limit.”

Cooper said the club was confident of landing “a big fish” in the next month to boost its flag credentials.

He said several members of Oak Park’s senior team were likely to follow Chapman to the NFL.

“I loved the fact that he loves Thomastown as a club and has belief in Thomastown going forward,” he said.

“What he did at Oak Park this year was outstanding.”

The Bears have re-signed the bulk of the senior squad for 2017.