North Sunshine has appointed Darren Boyall as its men’s coach for the 2024 season.
The struggling Roadrunners have only been victorious once in the last five years, however, things are starting to look positive for the club with a new coach and off field stability under president Andrew Scimone
Boyall has captained and played in successful sides at the former clubs Moomba Park and Fawkner Park.
More recently Boyall was coach of Essendon District Football Club Northern Saints senior thirds team, where he also served as a midfield and senior assistant.
While Boyall said he knows the task ahead of him, he said he is looking forward to it.
“It is a challenge, but all’s going well so far, so hopefully we can win a few games and challenge other teams and go forward,” he said.
“[We want to] be competitive with sides and obviously the club’s been down and out a little bit over the last few years but that’s what we are all working towards with Andy [Scimone] and the committee and myself.
“Andrew and the committee are in a good place and the culture from what I’ve heard has changed, all for the better for the North Sunshine footy club.”
Recruiting players to the club is high on Boyall’s priority list to help his side move forward.
“Number one for me is good quality people,” he said.
“[We want] probably a few key position players and quick ball runners who use the ball well.
“50-50 [split between recruiting youth and experienced players], I’m all for the young blokes jumping on board and getting their senior football underway, I was there once.
“It’s one of those things, you want a bit of youth because one good things with kids is that they’ll try 100 per cent for the whole 120 minutes.”
Via social media, the club said it was excited by this appointment, and said there were some more things in the works behind the scenes, including player and assistant coaching announcements.
“Darren impressed the selection panel during the interview process with his clear communication skills and vision for the club,” it said.
The Roadrunners have already announced plenty of re-signings and a couple of fresh signings including that of Kelsey Rameka from Melton South in the Ballarat Football League.
Harper Sercombe