Fitzroy has found its man to take it on a maiden VAFA Premier Division campaign
Ahead of a maiden VAFA Premier Division campaign, Fitzroy has appointed a former Coburg VFL captain and long-time NRL coach to lead the club.
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Fitzroy has found its man to take it into VAFA Premier Division for the first time.
Travis Ronaldson has been appointed the Lions’ coach for 2024, returning to Melbourne after five years with NRL club Canberra Raiders.
Ronaldson takes the reins from Luke Mahoney, who stepped down in September after securing promotion to the top-flight for the first time in club history.
The 40-year-old has a distinguished football resume having captained Gippsland Power and Coburg, finishing third in the JJ Liston Trophy and earning VFL Team of the Year honours in 2007.
He coached Old Ivanhoe to a Premier C premiership in 2013 before moving into strength and conditioning coaching at Melbourne Storm in 2015.
He has since worked for Gold Coast Suns, Gold Coast Titans and, since 2018, the Raiders.
Fitzroy president David Leydon said Ronaldson was an impressive candidate.
“It’s an exciting appointment, we went through a strenuous process, we took our time about it and we reckon we’ve found a ripper,” Leydon said.
“Our football operations director, Phil Bunn, worked with him many years ago and he’s coached at Old Ivanhoe, so he’s actually coached against us.
“When you look at his resume and meet the young fella, you think ‘bloody hell, we’ve got a good one here’.
“The other thing he brings is the strength and conditioning and fitness side of coaching, that’s very appealing, and will help us a lot as we push into A-Grade in 2024.
“He’s a quality person from start to finish and as soon as we talked to the young fella we thought this is the right fit for Fitzroy Football Club.”
The Lions enjoyed a superb season, finishing second in the home-and-away ladder but couldn’t stop St Bernard’s perfect season.
The Snowdogs claimed a 31-point win to claim the Premier B crown, undefeated.
However, the top-two finish still secured Fitzroy promotion to Premier A for the first time.
Five players were named in the Team of the Year; Ted Clayton as centre and captain, as well as Rhys Seakins, Nathan Ligris, Charlie Faubel and Donovan Toohey.
Toohey capped an impressive campaign with the club best-and-fairest after finishing joint fourth in the GT Moore Medal with Clayton.
Leydon said the club’s preparations for next season were in full swing.
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“We’re doing well, we’re keeping our wits about ourselves and not getting too far ahead of ourselves,” he said.
“We’re locking away all the players we had and have the tentacles spread far and wide looking for new recruits, there’s a couple of areas we know we need to address.
“That coupled with the new coach and what he may be able to bring to the tables makes it an exciting place to be.
“We’ve got nothing to lose in A-Grade so we’re going to give it our best shot.”
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