Former Clarence coach Peter Ryan joins Glenorchy in new role

Peter Ryan’s phone rang hot when he was controversially let go by Clarence. He reveals why the Glenorchy offer was the right one to accept.

Glenorchy has locked in Peter Ryan (left) as a senior assistant coach for 2025 while Josh Arnold (right) will once again be playing coach. Picture: Supplied.

While he may have had other offers, former Clarence coach Peter Ryan says the decision to return to Glenorchy as a senior assistant and director of coaching was the first one to come with both “substance and meaning” given his ties to the club.

Ryan was a premiership player at the Pies in 1999 and returns to KGV after he was not offered a new contract at Clarence despite taking the club to three straight finals series since taking on the role heading into the 2022 season.

This was after many years working at the Brisbane Lions in the academy space.

Ryan led Clarence to three straight preliminary finals during his time at the club. Picture: Chris Kidd

He will work alongside current senior coach Josh Arnold who has recommitted to the club as playing-coach next season.

Despite being still somewhat disappointed with how his time at Clarence ended, Ryan said he was looking forward to putting a difficult few weeks behind him and applying his time and focus on assisting Arnold in his new role.

“Clubs and boards make decisions and I’ve always said to my players that my time will come and go at Clarence, as it will with this footy club (Glenorchy),” Ryan said.

“So it’s about what you leave behind and I like to think that the culture we created (at Clarence) and the environment that I’ve left it in a better position than when I started.

“One door closes and another one opens and it’s good to come home. This was the first (offer) that really had some meaning for me and some real substance about what I could come and do. I think it’s fantastic that Josh has re-signed (because) he epitomises the footy club and bleeds black and white.

“My focus now is purely is on helping Glenorchy continue to push up the ladder.”

The return of Ryan to Glenorchy is set to be a major boost to both the football program and to Arnold, who will be in just his third year in the job next season.

“It’s massive,” Arnold said of Ryan’s arrival.

Ryan’s arrival will be a major assistance to Josh Arnold who is just in his third season as a playing-coach. Picture: Solstice Digital.

“We sat down at the end of the season and we had a comprehensive review of what worked and what didn’t work. Some really open and honest conversations and one thing out of those was that we wanted to get some other support in and obviously when ‘Spear’ (Ryan) became available, we had to have the chat and go down that path.

“We feel that he can bring in a lot of experience. He’s been around a lot of successful football clubs on the mainland and obviously recently down here at Clarence and we feel that what he can bring into our young group and help us build our program is going to be invaluable.”

Arnold confirmed on Monday that the club had re-signed a large portion of their senior group for next season and was confident they could add further talent to compete strongly in the SFL Premier League next season.