Demons miss out as Lamont signs on as Mooroopna senior coach
PORTARLINGTON has missed out on its main coaching target, with John Lamont signing at Mooroopna.
News filtered around Portarlington’s Ron Evans Oval yesterday, with confirmation Lamont had signed as senior coach of the Cats in the Goulburn Valley league.
Mooroopna posted the announcement on Facebook on Saturday night, with Lamont in the club’s colours.
The Demons only learned of the news yesterday, having attempted to lure the former Werribee senior VFL coach for next season.
“The Mooroopna FNC is pleased to announce the appointment of John Lamont as senior coach for 2020,” Mooroopna Football Netball Club posted.
“John had two years at Werribee in the early 1990s, he was then at North Melbourne for seven years before spending the last five years at Werribee in the VFL.
“John is a highly regarded coach and it will be great to see him work with our young group that Dale Osborne has guided and developed over the last four seasons.
“Dale and his family have had an enormous influence on the club over those four seasons and we look forward to seeing further growth with John in the coming years.”
Portarlington had hoped to sign Lamont as senior coach to replace Jesse Smith, who stood down prior to the end of the home-and-away season.
Lamont stepped in as coaching director of the Demons in the wake of Smith’s departure, helping interim coach Jamie Morgan.
Lamont, who has a holiday house in Portarlington, was weighing up a number of coaching roles, including the offer from the Demons, but decided to coach elsewhere.
Asked in late June whether he would take on the Portarlington job in 2020, Lamont didn’t rule out vying for the role but conceded it was “highly unlikely”. The Portarlington committee will now go back to the drawing board.