Tara Murray
One of St Albans favourite sons is taking on the senior coaching role for the upcoming Victorian Turf Cricket Association senior division season.
The Saints announced that former premiership winning captain and former president Michael Else had been appointed coach for the upcoming season.
Else has a long history with the club, beginning as a junior player, through to being president of the club when they won the VTCA premiership a few years ago.
He brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to the position. Most recently he was a premiership winning coach of our juniors.
Else, who has been coaching the club’s under-12s side in recent times, said he put his hand up after the club struggled to find someone.
“I’ve been at the club forever,” he said. “I’m really looking forward to it. We will start training in August and that’s when things will get real.
“I’m not the most experienced player there, but with Geeth Alwis as captain, I think it’s a decent enough combination.”
Else replaces premiership winning coach Rob Nikolic. Else said he was unsure whether Nikolic would be playing this season.
“He has a young family, so I’m not sure what he is doing,” Else said. “I would say he is 50-50 at this stage.”
Alwis takes on the captaincy role, coming off winning the VTCA senior division’s best and fairest award.
Else said Alwis was the perfect person to take on the on field leadership role. Alwis has played at the Saints for the past eight seasons.
As well as a leadership change for the side, the club has lost Simon Lambert. Lambert, who played in the first XI and had a major role in the development of the junior program, has been appointed coach at Hoppers Crossing.
“Good luck to him,” Else said. “You just can’t replace a guy like that.
“We’ll have at least three recruits and all three collectively will hopefully match more than what he did.
“He’s a big loss, but hopefully they can fill the role.”
Englishman Billy Whitford and Sri Lankan Lishan Dulshan both return to the club having previously played at St Albans,
Else said while their junior program was still strong, many of those players were still a few years away from playing seniors.
The Saints just missed out on finals last season, finishing fifth, three points outside the top four.
