Shane Joyce quits as coach of VAFA power Collegians
His four years in charge brought two grand final appearances in the VAFA Premier section but Shane Joyce says he needs a break from coaching.
Vic Amateur
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TWO-time VAFA Premier grand final coach Shane Joyce has stood down from Collegians.
Joyce told the Premier club and his players last night that he needed a spell from coaching.
The former Williamstown VFL and Sandringham Dragons TAC Cup assistant joined the Lions in November, 2015 and oversaw their rise to a Premier power.
After fighting off relegation in 2015, Collegians improved to a mid-table position in 2016.
It then rose to grand final appearances in 2017 and ’18, losing both matches to St Kevin’s.
There was nothing in them: the margins were three points, then five.
The Lions made the finals again last year but again lost to St Kevin’s, this time in a semi-final.
Joyce said this morning he did feel a sense of “unfinished business, and I thought it was going to be this year’’.
“I kind of went into this season (2020) thinking it might be my last at the football club,’’ he said.
“I’m very wary of being in the one spot for too long. It just felt that the timing was right. I’ve been in a new job for the last five months and it’s demanding more of my time, particularly after hours and on weekends.
“And there’s also my family side of things … my wife and two boys have sacrificed a lot for me over the last few years. I’ve got a couple of teenage boys who need my attention.’’
He said coaching in community football was “pretty much a full-time gig … to stay ahead of the curve and stay ahead of the opposition you’ve got to put in the time, game day, training, the video, the feedback with players, collectively and individually’’.
Joyce said he believed he left Collegians with the club in good shape and there would be no shortage of excellent candidates to take over.
“The window is still there for them to contend as a footy club,’’ Joyce said.
“I was really confident in our group this year. I felt we’d made some improvements in the off-season and had further development of the players we already had. We brought some leadership into the mix (including former AFL players David Armitage and David Mirra) … I was really confident we would have been at the pointy end with a little bit of luck. That’s the disappointing thing about not getting an opportunity to play this year.’’
While the grand finals were the high point of his four years with the Lions, Joyce said he was proud of the club’s performances in 2016, when it blooded a lot of young players and improved to 8-10, and 2019, when it made a slow start and recovered to reach the top four.
“We had to play a lot of kids — we had no choice because we didn’t have much experience — and to be able finish seventh helped us stabilise in Premier,’’ he said of 2016.
“That was the start of a great journey.’’
He said he was unlikely to coach in 2021.
Joyce had no involvement with the VAFA before landing at Collegians — “I was an outsider coming in’’ — but he said he had no doubt it was the premier community football competition in Victoria.
He said the relegation and promotion element of it meant “there’s always something to play for at either end of the ladder’’.
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