PINT parts ways with coach Shannon Motlop after 2023-24 NTFL season

The PINT Football Club has axed coach Shannon Motlop shortly after he led them to their first NTFL premier league finals series. Read the reaction.

The PINT Football Club has chosen to part ways with their inaugural coach Shannon Motlop, despite him taking the side to finals in just their second Premier League season.

Motlop took up the reins for the 2022-23 season, in which the Greenants, a club that previously topped out at Division 1, surprised many sides and only narrowly missed finals.

The former AFL footballer for North Melbourne and Melbourne went one better in the 2023-24 season finishing fifth with their wins including one over eventual grand finalists Nightcliff.

However, a post-season review, some differences in opinion including on building local talent versus recruiting interstate and perceived underachievement forced a rift between club and coach.

“I didn’t know what was happening until it did, I received very little feedback that we were in that sort of position,” Motlop said.

“It came as a shock, but I could sort of see the way the club was going, I had a lot of disagreements, my vision wasn’t backed, I didn’t fit in and their easiest option was to get rid of me.

Shannon Motlop coached PINT to their first finals series in the 2023-24 NTFL season.

“They didn’t believe they needed locals and thought recruiting from down south was enough, something I disagreed with.

“They’re coming from a reserve grade competition without any knowledge of NTFL footy, they don’t know what it takes and they failed to let me give direction.”

PINT president Spencer Harvey confirmed in a statement the club had made the difficult decision not to renew Motlop’s contract.

“The club completed an extensive review at the end of the season and the outcome from the review was that we needed to move in a different direction with our coaching,” the statement read.

“We thank Shannon for his work over the last two seasons and he will always be a special member of the club as the club’s first Men’s Premier League coach.”

PINT FC president Spencer Harvey and Shannon Motlop.

The side struggled for speed in its opening season evidenced in their matches against Tiwi, while goal kicking hurt them in their second year.

“They also told me to my face we underachieved and that is just delusional, they disrespect every other team in the league by saying that,” Motlop said.

“They don’t have a junior base and just take the easy option to recruit 30-odd interstate players to try and win a premiership, and then 25 of them don’t return the following season.

“There’s also the point system, which puts a limit on selections, while local players are the ones who have speed as we saw in the games against Tiwi.”

Motlop previously left his family club, Wanderers, after only being offered a one-year contract extension despite leading them to the 2020-21 prelim final.

Steven Motlop followed his brother for the 2023-24 season, and with him came 217 games worth of AFL experience and was an instant standout in the club.

He wasn’t the only player to come on board for Motlop, nor the only person with volunteers such as the ‘water angels’ from Wanderers also making the trip.

Steven Motlop was instrumental in PINT's success in the 2023-24 NTFL season. Picture: Celina Whan / AFLNT Media

“They pulled me out of retirement, I told them I didn’t want to coach again, but they kept ringing me and then they chased my brother,” he said.

“And now they’ve done this, and that’s not very smart because no one wants to lose Steven Motlop as a player.

“It makes me not want to coach again, in the case of Wanderers everyone supported me except for the president at the time.

“At the end of the day, I’ve been successful and no one can take that away from me, and there’s no reason to have taken this, it’s just a massive waste of two years of my life.”

Motlop said he would be returning to Wanderers, a club he had been missing since leaving and was hoping to help draw supporters and players back to after a couple of down years.

Shannon Motlop said he would be returning to his family club, Wanderers.

“I was retired before this and I think I will retire again from senior coaching and reassess, but I am missing Wanderers a lot and have missed them over the time,” he said.

“People see Wanderers in a spot where they don’t want to be there, I’m different, I’m hoping that by going back I can help draw some people to the club, because they’ve lost so much.

“PINT is a great club, but they need to change the way they think, they’re a Territory club not a southern club.