New Lauderdale coach Brent Dolliver not intending to raid former club in wake of mentor’s ugly exit

New Lauderdale coach Brent Dolliver has spoken on his decision to take on the Bombers top job with the former Clarence assistant also giving his take on Peter Ryan’s ugly exit.

Lauderdale has announced Brent Dolliver as its new senior coach for 2025. Picture: Supplied.

New Lauderdale coach Brent Dolliver says he won’t actively go and recruit any disgruntled Clarence players in the wake of Peter Ryan’s ugly exit, but the former Roos’ assistant says he will welcome conversations with any player across the state that wants to join the Bombers.

Dolliver was announced as Lauderdale’s new coach on Monday, stepping into the role made vacant by Allen Christensen, with the highly respected mentor last holding a head senior coaching role at Dodges Ferry.

He then worked as a backline coach at Clarence this season.

Dolliver was first approached by Lauderdale following Christensen’s decision to depart during the finals series, beating out a number of other candidates and accepting the job this past weekend.

Lauderdale playing group following the grand final loss. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

“I just wanted to get back into a head coaching role and Lauderdale seemed like a really honest community club and that was very enticing, along with the list we’ve got” Dolliver said.

“They’ve just played in a state league grand final and have some top quality players there and some really good kids coming through. I’d like to add a little bit of speed to what we’ve got but the bookends are there.

“A great back line, a really good midfield and a forward line (that holds) a couple of key forwards who are probably the best in the state so it’s very exciting to get your hands on a group like that.”

Dolliver got an up close look at his new club throughout the season while an assistant under Ryan and admits it was hard to see his former colleague be shown the door last week.

“He’s been a great mentor the last 12 to 14 months. Clarence made a decision, do I agree with it, no, but that’s my point of view,” he said.

“I hope he isn’t lost to football in Tassie because I think his background in development of kids has been fantastic and I’m sure there’s a role for him somewhere in the state.

“He is certainly over-qualified for that sort of position (an assistant coach), so hopefully he can find himself in a role with the (Tasmania) Devils, which I think would be fantastic, but if not, I’ll certainly be annoying him over the next few weeks.”

With the majority of senior players at Clarence believed to be disgruntled with the handling of Ryan’s exit, it’s understood many are looking to play their football elsewhere next season.

But while some may think Dolliver will attempt a raid on Bellerive Oval, he said he wouldn’t go actively poaching players and that included his son and 2024 Matthew Richardson medal winner Jack, who kicked 23 goals at Clarence this season.

Clarence forward Jack Dolliver was named the TSL's 2024 Matthew Richardson Medal winner as the competition's best young player. Picture: AFL Tasmania.

“I’m going to leave that to him,” Dolliver said of Jack.

“I don’t want to force him to do something he doesn’t want to do. Obviously we’d love to have him at Lauderdale, I think he could top off Lauderdale really well, but I’m not going to pressure him to make a decision.

“I won’t actively go out and poach players, but if they want to have a chat with us as a group, then we’d certainly love to have them down here.

“I think if we can lock in the playing group that we currently have, that’s a big start for us and that’s what I’ll focus on. I won’t focus too much on what Clarence are doing.”