Tara Murray
Building for long term success is the plan for new Sunshine coach Ben Chapman.
Chapman comes to the Western Region Football League club as it negotiates one of it’s tougher periods in recent history.
On the back of COVID-19, the club struggled this year winning just one game in division 1 and will be relegated to division 2 next season.
Chapman said he was looking forward to the next challenge.
“It’s something different and a different competition for me,” he said.
“The club is going back into the second division which is something they haven’t done for 30 years. It’s something new and different for all of us.
“We have the chance to create something that will take us forward for a long time.”
Chapman comes to the Kangaroos with a long coaching history. He coached Oak Park in the Essendon District Football League and then Thomastown in the Northern Football League.
The last couple of years Chapman has been involved with Tullamarine, this year as a co-coach.
He said wanted to coach on his own in 2023 and was excited by the chance to coach his own team again.
“I’ve spoken to people in the football community and no one speaks a bad word about them,” he said.
“Since I applied for the role, the club has been so warm and welcoming. It already feels like I have a connection to the place and a number of people from the club have reached out, it speaks volumes of the club.”
Going down a division can be tough and Chapman said he wouldn’t be putting unrealistic expectations on the group next year.
He said the focus wouldn’t just be on the senior team, but a club as a whole to ensure they have that long term pathway between juniors and seniors.
“Rest assured we cannot change the past, but we will write our history moving forward,” he said. “My vision for the club is to be a place of inclusiveness, where everyone feels welcome, wants to be and we strive for everyone within the club to improve both individually and collectively and make our club better both on and off field.
“Our aim is to become not only an A-grade club again, but a club that will have sustained success at the highest level. I will leave no stone unturned in the pursuit of this.”
Chapman said they were hopeful the majority of the playing group would re-sign, but know they will lose players who will still want to play at the higher level.
“There will be some turnover, naturally,” he said. “We will work with a list that will be capable of playing competitive footy.
“If we can get continuous improvement see where we go from there.”
