Saints go searching

ST ALBANS wants its coach for next season decided within the next fortnight. Club president Craig

Osborne has labelled the facilities at The Gordon TAFE Oval as the best in local footy, using that as a selling point for the vacant job.

Co-coach Greg Mellor accepted the senior job at Geelong West earlier this week, opening the door for the Supersaints to rejuvenate its coaching stocks.

Paul Nigro’s place in the picture will be decided by the incoming coach, Osborne said.

“What his role looks like next year, that’s not up for me to decide. That’s up to the coach who’s coming in.

“At the end of the day, the coach has to come in and set up the structure they want.”

Applications close for the job on August 14, with Osborne keen to announce a successor before season’s end.

“We’re going for a short application period, with the view to announce it before the end of the home-and-away season — that’s really important,” he said.

“We’re hellbent on trying to find the right coach. That coach has got to be a real teacher or mentor, someone who hasn’t been far removed from top level football but is a coach in their own right.

“We want to be going into Round 17 with a clear understanding of who will be taking our club forward.”

But Osborne said recruiting would be just as important in helping the club improve its record next season.

“We’re young; we believe we probably need four or five (recruits) to get to where we need, but I don’t think we’re too far away,” he said.

“We’re very comfortable if we can retain our playing group and add a few key recruits, we’ll be going in the right direction.”