Saints find Novy replacement in newcomer Lafferty

The Saints have found a new leader for their dominant women’s squad, who could not be happier about taking up the gig. AFL CAIRNS COACHING ROUND-UP >>>

IT is the AFL Cairns off-season and some clubs have made moves to bolster and rejuvenate their clubs ahead of the 2022 season.

Check back here for updates on movements for both men’s and women’s teams in the competition.

Saints find new coach in new arrival Lafferty

Taking over the most unstoppable AFL Cairns team of the last two years? What’s not to like?

For Jonah Lafferty – newly arrived in FNQ – it didn’t take much convincing to take over as Cairns Saints women coach for the 2022 season.

The 23-year-old moved to Cairns at the beginning of the year, having played football in Canberra for the Eastlake Football Club.

Fellow former Canberran and Saints signing Kate Wheaton told Lafferty about a vacancy at Griffiths Park; a vacancy he was more than happy to fill.

Cairns Saints women's coach

“I thought ‘yeah, it’d be great fun’ what a great opportunity to coach a club that won the last two premiership so how good’s that?,” he said.

“I’ve always loved playing footy, but I fractured my leg playing last year and thought god, these weekend injuries you can get from playing weekend sport aren’t too fun.

“So I thought I’d take the season off and not play, but I would have definitely missed being around a footy club so I was pretty lucky to get the opportunity to be involved in a different capacity.”

The Saints have been absolute juggernauts in the competition the last two seasons, but experienced a number of key departures in the offseason.

Notable departures include Jo Butland medallist Poppy Boltz (Southport Sharks, QAFLW), as well as mids Akayla Peterson (Carlton, VFLW) and Courtney Jones (Carlton, AFLW).

“There was a lot of talent in the team last year, and a lot of them have gown down south to pursue footy which is super exciting,” he said.

“Hopefully now we can bring through the next crop of girls who are going to hopefully go on to do the same thing.

“At the end of the day, women’s footy is growing so fast … it’s just really exciting to be a part of it and coach girls who may go on to play at the highest level.”

While the departure of former women’s coach Chris Novy has no doubt left some big shoes to fill, Lafferty is eager and believes himself up to the task of bringing the side back to the promised land.

“We’re not going to change the winning culture, that’s something we’ll try to keep the same,” he said.

“The team’s game will have to evolve with new players and talents but we want to keep the core exactly the same because it’s been winning flags.

“We don’t need to reinvent the wheel when we don’t need to.”

With this season stacking up to be a relatively even playing field – as other teams catch up to the Saints – Lafferty was eager to see what newcomers to the group can add by way of surprises for the rest of the league.

“I’m personally really excited about the girls who are new to the game, who have clearly got good backgrounds in other sports who have promise on the training track,” he said.

“I’ve only been here a few sessions but I can already see how much potential is there so hopefully we can nurture that and really unlock it”

Saints lose coach of the year Novy

CAIRNS Saints are hunting for someone to coach their dual premiership-winning women’s team after the bombshell departure of coach Chris Novy.

Saints president Craig Hards confirmed Novy would not suit up in the red, white and black in 2022.

“He’s done it all in the last couple of years, he was basically a team manager as well,” Hards said.

“His coaching – the way he went at the women’s football, he was on their level.

“The amount of improvement we’ve seen in the last two years with all the girls, I think we had 40 interested in playing all up.

“He’s going to be a huge loss but we’ll put it out there and see if we can get someone of Chris’ calibre.”

The 2021 women’s coach of the year and coach of the team of the year, Novy took Saints to the top of the league in his two-year tenure at Griffiths Park, commanding an incredible 23-3-1 record and two premierships.

He joined the club after stints at North Cairns and Manunda, and flourished at Griffiths Park.

With Novy finally looking to make a healthy return to seniors footy in 2022 after injury woes as well, Hards added his departure left a hefty hole in the men’s team.

Novy made only a few appearances for the Wes Glass-coached senior men’s team, who won the minor premiership but fell to Cairns City Lions in the grand final.

Runaway Jo Butland Medal winner Poppy Boltz will soon depart the team for the Gold Coast, with fellow stars Akayla Peterson and recent AFLW debutant Courtney Jones, having also left the team.

With plenty of talents still on the team, as well as under-18 premiership winners moving up the ranks, Hards said the vacancy was a tantalising option.

“The program’s come a long way under two years with Chris … it’s going to make our lives a lot easier getting someone to the club because of what he’s set up,” Hards said.

Wallace comes in for Centrals women’s team

IT’S been a long journey to relevance for the Centrals Trinity Beach women’s AFL team, but they’re heading into 2022 with a backbone of league converts ready to take their best shot at winning the flag.

The man who will lead them there will be former seniors, reserves and under-18s coach Brad Wallace, who will take up the role after Dale Farrell departed at the end of 2021.

The former player admitted his days on the turf are behind him, but was convinced to come back to Crathern Park to coach by Centrals women’s president and wife Katie Wallace.

“I helped out a bit last year with the women’s’ season, I sort of got roped into it in the end,” he said.

“I’ve lost that sort of competitiveness to win at all costs, I’m more about trying to grow the game and get everyone involved.”

The Bulldogs came within inches of making it to the premiership last season, but fell at the final hurdle in a heartbreaking one-point loss to the Manunda Hawks.

“In the last five years leading up to last season I think they only won one or two games,” Wallace said.

“I think last year the penny dropped with a few of them and they started understanding the game more.

“This season I think they want to take it one step further and go to the grand final.

“For me, it’s about sustained success, being competitive and winning games.”

The team will be without long time player and program foundation player Kat Fatnowna, as well as AFLW force Leah Kaslar.

However, Wallace said with a posse of hardened former league players, as well as talented veteran Brooklyn Lancaster, the Bulldogs still packed a hell of a punch.

“They’re [former league players] pretty fit and have good hand-eye coordination and that sort of stuff,” Wallace said.

“I enjoy coaching and trying to grow the game … I’m more about inclusiveness and everyone having a go.”

He said while Lancaster had a quieter 2021 on the stat line, he hoped her return this season heralded a return to form for the Bulldogs superstar.

“I’m probably looking to try and get her to help with a few of the younger girls as well,” he said.

Much like other AFL Cairns women’s teams vying to unseat the elite Cairns Saints from the throne, Wallace says his team will benefit from a strength and conditioning coach during the pre-season to help with the squad’s athleticism.

“I think one area we lacked last season was fitness and general awareness as well,” Wallace said.

“Fitness will be one of my main things to kick off this pre-season.”

White, Kelly sign on to co-coach Manunda in 2022

Getting back to the grand final and downing the goliath-like Cairns Saints will be atop Manunda’s newest coaches’ to-do list.

It won’t be club stalwart Kareena White’s first rodeo – having coached in previous seasons – but it is for former captain Melissa Kelly, who will lead the team from the sidelines as she is expecting a child.

“It’s pretty exciting,” Kelly said.

“I feel like I’m more there to support Kareena, she’s got so many more years of experience on me.

“I’m more of an encourager and supporter there for the girls, I’ll be taking direction and helping her where she needs me.

“We’ll bounce off each other to get through this season.”

For White – who will suit up for her 11th season with the Hawks – said she was grateful to be having Kelly’s assistance while she continues to dominate contests on the field.

“For me, it’s just really good to have someone there on Saturdays on the sidelines,” the three-time premiership winner said.

“Coaching’s easy during training but it’s hard on game day, so I’ll be excited to have Mel there on game day running everything.”

The Hawks were outmatched by a spectacularly talented Saints side in the final at Cazalys in 2021, but have plenty of talent on their side including rising star Jennifer Wren.

As well as White, there’s plenty of experience on the side as well including Christine Pike, Jennifer Robinson and Nancy Matthew.

White was made a life member of the Hawks last year, and has no plans to hang up the boots with the Hawks after playing more than 200 games in the brown and gold.

“People keep asking me when I’m going to retire,” White said.

“I always say that one day I’ll get injured and won’t be able to play anymore so until then I’ll just keep playing.

“I want to keep playing as long as I can because I just love footy and I like making the other girls enjoy it just as much as me.”

The co-captains will relieve Fred Pittorino of coaching duties after his one season at the helm.

Kelly said Pittorino helped develop strategies and finetune Manunda’s playstyle, but physicality was something the coaches wanted to emphasise in 2022.

“Last year, somewhere we let ourselves down was in our fitness,” Kelly said.

“We didn’t really focus on our fitness like we normally did, so that’s probably the number one thing coming into this season.

“We’re really happy with the way we played last year, we’re just looking to build and grow from there.”

COOPER RETURNS FOR A TENTH YEAR

THE most successful coach in AFL Cairns’ recent history will return to complete a decade in charge of the one regional Queensland’s best teams.

Brad Cooper has re-signed to the Crocs for the 2022 season, but despite falling short of the premiership for the first time in six years will stick to what has been so successful in years past.

Port won five straight flags from 2016 to 2020, but crashed out after losses to eventual premiers Cairns City Lions and Cairns Saints in the finals.

Despite boasting Australia’s “most transient footy club”, the senior side will maintain plenty of promise, with Crathern medallist Liam Brandt and goalkicking machine Kye Chapple tipped to return for another run.

After Cooper had hinted at departing the club in previous seasons, his return in 2022 will mark his 10th season with the team.

In that time, he has turned Port Douglas into a powerhouse, winning six premierships (2014, 2016-20), numerous coach of the year gongs, and consistently been a title contender.

He said he won’t count his chickens before they hatch in terms of the side’s return to their dominating form.

“I don’t look too far ahead … I’m a fairly structured coach,” he said,

“At this point, I’m just looking to build a squad and putting some training parameters.

“To be looking at results, that’d be crystal ball stuff because we haven’t got a squad together yet.”

“We’re a proud club, we’d like to be playing finals footy.”

Tempting players to move to the picturesque coastal community is never a tall order for Port, who are arguably the best operators in terms of recruitment in Far North footy, with the Crocs set to again be among the top contenders for the AFL Cairns flag.

“We’ll talk to new recruits, hopefully get a few players back that have previously played here,” he said.

“That seems to be a strength when guys come up for a year or two and they go home.

“They miss the weather, they miss the lifestyle – that’s the one thing we have in regards to beaches and a gateway to the Great Barrier Reef.

“Our guys take all the recruits out fishing, pig hunting and all of that so it’s a real attraction for people to come back.”

LIONS STICK WITH LEADERS

CAIRNS City Lions will maintain the coaching staff which led them to a breakthrough AFL Cairns premiership.

Aaron Davey and Brodie Deverell have been locked in as senior men’s and women’s coaches for 2022.

It might just have been the easiest off-season appointment Shane Law has experienced as Lions president, with both men eager and keen to return to the roles.

Davey will become the Lions’ longest-serving coach in the process, while Deverell is coming off his first season as a head coach.

“Aaron’s already been doing a fair amount of planning for next season,” Law said. “It was a fairly easy decision to keep them both. Aaron is playing in Darwin every now and again and keeping in touch with some players, and Brodie did well in his first year coaching and we’re keen for him to continue.

“We’re looking at a few players we might be able to bring in, while retaining the players we’ve got.”

The Lions’ status as the defending premiers could make the mission to attract and retain players a touch easier, but Law said the process would be no different to previous years.

“It’s been slowly building over the past few years,” Law said. “We’ve gone from a side where some people might have had the idea of staying away, to a destination club.

“There’s been a lot of interest.”

TOM’S IN FOR THE LANG HAUL AT NORTH CAIRNS

THE recent on-field history makes for poor reading but that is not how the future of North Cairns Tigers should be judged, the incoming senior coach and football operations manager says.

Jason Tom will arrive in the Far North in December to take on what may be regarded as the toughest gig in AFL Cairns, when he takes the reins of the perennially struggling Tigers.

Tom has signed a two-year deal to lead the foundation AFL Cairns club, which has not won a game in the senior competition since March 23, 2018, has suffered 57 – and counting – straight losses, and collected four straight wooden spoons.

He joins from the Leopold Lions, who he coached in the Geelong Football League, and boasts a playing resume which includes stints in the VFL and NTFL, and five grand finals.

While he had committed to the Lions for 2022, Tom and his family eyed an interstate move for months and chose to step down from the role.

Tom is under no illusion as to the struggle endured by North Cairns over the past few seasons, but he is excited by how the club could be improved, then returned towards the top of the table.

“I love the upside that club has,” Tom said. “The intention had been to move to Cairns.

“I’ve seen at Geelong that the strongest clubs in seniors are the ones who aren’t lacking in the juniors; there has to be a balanced approach. I know they’ve had a challenging time recently, but there’s an opportunity to really dig my heels in and make a change.”

Despite not being due to arrive in the Far North for another seven weeks, Tom has already started working his contact book to secure players for the upcoming season.

With the past two seasons interrupted by Covid in Victoria, and a network developed through his long involvement in footy across two major competitions, there may be opportunities for footy-starved athletes to consider playing the game in Cairns and FNQ.

But, Tom stressed, the list would not be filled by imports, with a view to develop and reward good people at the club.

The senior team may not be his only focus, with Tom also involved with his young son’s junior team at Leopold.

“I coached the U9s last year and it’s a rewarding feeling coaching kids, and making it fun for them,” he said.

“I’m prouder of that stuff than any of my playing achievements. It’s coaching kids, helping young blokes get a job or an apprenticeship, because it helps set up their lives.

“It’s that rewarding aspect which means so much.”

DEFENCE THE KEY IN JOHANSEN’S CUTTERS REIGN

The hard-nosed South Cairns Cutters will be getting a facelift in the form of new coach Brad Johansen, who’s ready to build a defence to be feared.

Johansen moved to the Far North from South Australia with his family last year, landing an assistant coaching spot with the Cutters.

With John Tootell stepping down from the top job after four seasons, Johansen saw an opportunity to take his passion for coaching to the next level.

“I suppose from their [South Cairns] thought, there was some value I could add to the club and it’s been something I’ve wanted to do for a long time, so I thought I’d put my hat in the ring and there you go,” Johansen said.

Johansen was joined in the Far North by younger brother Jake, winner of the Cutters’ best and fairest this season.

He also hopes to convince third brother Luke to enter the fold next season.

All three have experienced success in South Australian competitions, even winning a flag together at Adelaide Football League club CBC Old Collegians.

“I’ve been coaching them my whole life as the older brother, they don’t listen to me half the time,” Brad Johansen joked.

“It should be fun though, we can bounce ideas off each other as well so we’re pretty open and honest.”

As for plans with his new team, the 30-year-old said shoring up the back end was something he was eager to do this offseason.

“Our offence was pretty good last year, [but] we were probably a bit easy to score against in transition as well,” Johansen said.

“[I’m] coming in with that defensive structure mindset and building relationships with the current players and hopefully some new players we can get on board as well.

“I’m not going to give too much away, but it’s going to be building relationships with the current list.

“Development’s a key as well so really looking forward to working with the colts and ressies boys, trying to get as many senior games in them as well to have more sustained results.”

As for the outgoing Tootell, Johansen said it would be still great to have the seasoned coach meandering around Fretwell Park to call upon from time to time.

“He’s been good … he’s still actively involved in the club,” Johansen said.

“He’s given me the free reign and gone ‘mate, this is your gig, you can do what you want’.

“But it’s awesome to have a bit of support and guidance at the same time.”

Who will coach the Bulldogs in 2022?

Centrals are in search of a new women’s coach for 2022, but a key figure behind the program has talked down the prospect of taking the top job.

Former Bulldogs player now life member Kat Fatnowna said after hanging up the boots this year that her time will be focused on her three kids and their sporting endeavours, for now.

“It is something that’s been discussed but we haven’t really gone into too much depth at this stage … you never know, it could be an open question,” she said.

“Time is a big constraint personally.

“My children are pretty dedicated to their sport, my young boy’s bleeding red, white and blue and doing great things.”

Former teammate and AFLW player Leah Kaslar said Fatnowna would be ‘amazing’ in the role, but concurred that family came first.

“Kat would be fantastic, I think everyone would love that,” she said.

Fatnowna said whoever ends up taking the gig would have their work cut out for them after the high standard set by outgoing coach Dale Farrell, however there was still room for the squad to “climb the ladder” against top clubs the Manunda Hawks and Cairns Saints.

“[It’s about] finding a person who’s willing to contribute the time and have that passion to go and get the game to grow and inspire the girls to keep playing and learn more,” she said.

Both Fatnowna and Kaslar returned to the club and gave it their all in 2021, culminating in the former being awarded a life membership from Centrals.

“Overall, the journey in itself and being a part of watching this team grow has been quite a proud moment,” she said.

“It was definitely a heartfelt moment, especially reaching that group of girls [who] helped build the women’s program and the women’s club from foundation days to now.

“It was a very special feeling and one of the most special accolades.”

While the coaching gig may not be in the reticle for Fatnowna for next season, she plans to be on the sidelines at Crathern Park cheering on the team at every opportunity.

“She won’t be able to help herself, she’ll be giving them plenty of feedback, I reckon she’ll be helping out all the time,” Kaslar said.

“She’s just that kind of person.”

Henderson charts AFL return after gruesome injury

A broken neck that effectively ended the playing career of South Cairns’ Lance Henderson has failed to keep him from being involved in the sport he loves.

The 29-year-old reserves player has been named the head coach of the Cutters women’s team for 2022, three months after suffering the gruesome injury during a game.

South Cairns Cutters women's coach Lance Henderson will lead the team in 2022. Picture: Harry Murtough

The incident left Henderson hospitalised with significant nerve damage and the loss of movement in some extremities.

He may be on the sideline permanently, but the Cutters player of five years said coaching was something he always wanted to get involved in.

“I tried to play a bit of a role off the field last year and this year,” Henderson said.

“It’s something I’ve always been interested in.

“I’m very excited, it’s a new pathway.”

Henderson has spent the last three months in rehabilitation to regain balance and control over his fine motor movements.

The recovery has been made all the more heartening for Henderson thanks to the support of the Cutters and South Cairns community who rallied around him.

Souths player Lance Henderson in hospital after suffering a broken neck. Picture: Facebook

He said coming back to coach was a way of giving back to a club that’s meant so much to him.

“The club and the community out here have supported me hugely after my accident,” Henderson said.

“To be able to give back to the club is fantastic and to still be a part of it is awesome.”

The Cutters reserves team was even able to cap off Henderon’s year on a high note, winning the grand final against the Cairns Saints in September.

The women’s team went winless in 2021, but has managed to foster a passionate squad of newcomers to the sport.

Henderson will relieve Joscelyn Bowditch of the position.

“[I] don’t have huge expectations as of yet, but I’m really wanting to build the women’s culture out here at the club,” Henderson said.

“Joscelyn did a fantastic job at it, and we’ll take it to another level.”

Originally published as Saints find Novy replacement in newcomer Lafferty