By DAVID NAGEL
THE South East Football Netball League coaching merry-go-round is in full swing right now after Pakenham coach Steve O’Bryan announced he will stand down at the end of the season.
O’Bryan met with club officials on Thursday night, and then informed his players after training of his decision to end his tenure after four years at the helm.
The Lions’ leader joins Beaconsfield’s Clint Evans and Officer’s Brad Jones on a growing list of coaches to have already announced they will finish up at the end of 2016.
In a remarkable season of coaching news, the Gazette understands up to three other senior roles have question marks hanging over them as we head to the pointy end of the SEFNL season.
O’Bryan brought solidarity to a club that had a tumultuous 2012, with new appointment Gary Connolly lasting just three rounds before Joe Lenders took over in an interim capacity.
“Let me make this clear, my issue is not with the committee, it’s with the players. I don’t want to tarnish everyone with the same brush but there have been negatives from certain individuals right from the word go,” Connolly said at the time.
O’Bryan changed those negative vibes in an instant.
He won over the playing group, taking the club from ninth to fourth in his first season, winning the elimination final over Berwick before bowing out to Beaconsfield in the first semi-final.
But that sudden spike has changed into a gradual decline since then. The Lions lost the elimination final to the Wickers in 2014 before finishing sixth last year, a position that looks likely again this season.
Pakenham football manager Simon Bevan said O’Bryan’s departure was a mutual decision between both parties.
“The club and OB (O’Bryan) agreed that it was probably time to head in a different direction,” Bevan said.
“He has the club at heart and thinks he may have got the best that he can out of the playing group. There’s definitely no animosity there. He’ll coach out the rest of the year and we’d love for him to stay on and play next season.”
Bevan said the club would never say never to any option going forward, but was likely to revert to a non-playing coach for next season.
Narre Warren coach Heath Black said earlier this year that his coaching would be diminished by 65 per cent if it was to be in a playing role – such is the demanding nature of the football in SEFNL right now.
O’Bryan will lead his side into games against Tooradin, Beaconsfield, Berwick and Narre Warren to round out his tenure at the club.
