By Joseph Ibic
St Albans has welcomed back a former son to take on the captain-coach role for the Victorian Turf Cricket Association senior division season.
Paul Hetherington has been appointed to the dual role for the 2025-26 season.
Hetherington was last season captain at Gellibrand and coached them during the five seasons prior.
Hetherington returns to his former club, where his VTCA journey began after a successful stint at Gellibrand helping lead them to back-to-back premierships in the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons respectively.
He played 102 games for Gellibrand scoring 1571 runs at an average of 20.4 and taking 196 wickets at an average of 13.7.
Hetherington said that he was proud of how he helped to develop a positive culture at Gellibrand saying it is something needed to be successful.
He said he hopes to transfer those sorts of achievements and skills over to his new role at St Albans in order to have “a positive impact” and achieve the same success that he found at Gellibrand.
His appointment at St Albans has come as a bit of a surprise after he opted out of coaching Gellibrand after coaching the 2023-24 season, with him instead just holding the captaincy last season.
Hetherington said his decision to take a year off was to have a break from coaching after being in the role at Gellibrand for five years and also at Melton South before that.
The break allowed him to “reinvigorate and improve” his desire for coaching, while also allowing Gellibrand to hear from a new voice and to freshen things up although still striving for the same success.
On field, he was named the grand final most valuable player.
As the season fast approaches, Hetherington already has some of the goals he and the club have set for the upcoming season.
Hetherington says he has a “specific brand of cricket which he’d love the club to play” but acknowledges that this might take a bit of adjusting to.
Hetherington believes that St Albans have what it takes to be “in the mix” for finals and further success this season against teams that are of a “really high standard.”
Ultimately, being competitive and playing good cricket are two main focuses he has as the club looks for a return to finals after narrowly missing out last year based on percentage.
Heading into the pre-season Hetherington wants the club to continue building off of what was a strong season last season.
The Saints finished in fifth spot last season, quotient outside of the top four and playing finals.
He hopes to make a couple improvements that will move the club forward in the right direction.
