GULLS LAND NEW COACH
MARK McDOWELL TO TAKE THE REINS AT NORTH SHORE CLUB MAY DENY DARLEY’S NORTH HOBART CLEARANCE SEAGULLS TO FAREWELL A CLUB LEGEND
FORMER North Shore playing coach Sam Darley faces the real prospect of sitting out of football for 12 months as the fallout to his sudden departure continues.
Seagulls president Dale Purcell yesterday confirmed the club was prepared to dig its heels in over Darley, who has been unveiled as a North Hobart recruit despite having a year to run on his contract.
“I would say that the club’s pretty upset and people around the club are as well,” Purcell said of Darley’s exit yesterday. “So at this stage, there won’t be any movement on the clearance.”
A former GWS Giants and Western Bulldogs player, Darley has reportedly signed with his junior club North Hobart in the Tasmanian State League, leaving the Seagulls after just one season at the helm.
He has cited personal and family reasons.
Purcell claims he was blindsided by the move, saying he only knew of Darley’s departure when it was announced by North Hobart on social media last Wednesday.
North Shore went into damage control, calling a crisis meeting as it attempted to gather facts over Darley’s move south and start the process to secure a new coach.
Almost a week on, Purcell said he had not received a phone call from Darley, despite attempts to reach him.
“All I’ve got is a text,” Purcell said. “No phone call, just a text after we spoke to their president, so I think he (North Hobart president Craig Martin) might have even prompted the text message (from Darley).
“Ten minutes after I spoke to the president, I got a text from Sam ... that’s all I’ve got from him.”
Purcell admitted he was angry that Darley had not informed the club of his decision to leave.
“It is frustrating,” Purcell said. “We can’t be worried now, we’ve got plenty of things going on with recruiting and getting our players on board, so that will pan out later down the track.”
Purcell said the club would not rush to release Darley.
“As a club, we haven’t spoken about it,” Purcell said.
“Because we’ve been worried about getting a coach (Mark McDowell) and telling everyone what’s going on, we haven’t sat down.
“All our meetings have been about getting a coach. Our AGM is on Sunday and we’ll have a chat.
“We don’t want it to be a distraction to Macca and what he and the playing group want to do. We’ll work it out amongst ourselves.”