Tara Murray
New Deer Park coach Jamie Madigan is refreshed after a year out of the sport and is ready to lead the side into the Essendon District Football League premier division.
Madigan, who replaces premiership coach Heath Scotland, is no stranger to the Lions nor the EDFL competition.
He coached the Lions to a Western Region Football League division 2 premiership in 2009, while he was assistant coach during the club’s record breaking seven premierships in row.
He was also previously a playing coach for Aberfeldie in the early 2000s.
Madigan said he was excited for the challenge at the club where he played more than 300 games.
“I’m really excited,” he said. “I have not coached them [in any form] the last three years,” he said.
“I’m excited to be back in a head coaching role. I was a senior assistant for six or seven years and it puts me in good stead to step into the role.”
Madigan said this year was the first time in 35 years he had taken a step away from football and it had allowed him to refresh and travel.
He said he still watched plenty of Deer Park, including watching the division 1 grand final on live stream from Greece, while also watching some premier division action.
He said the competition remains a strong competition,
“We had a good start [in the EDFL],” he said. “The plan was to be there [premier division] after one year and take on the great clubs like Aberfeldie, Keilor and Strathmore.”
While Madigan returns to the club, several premiership players are on the move.
Todd Elton, Lachlan Smart, Nash Holmes and Tim Quick have all left the club, while Mick Edwards who missed the grand final is also on the move.
Madigan said while it’s disappointing to lose those players, they were confident in the group they had and were working hard behind the scenes to bring in some new faces.
“We’ve taken a bit of a hit with Elton and Smart going, they kicked 121 goals between them,” he said.
“Our captain Spiros [Amarantidis] will spend a lot more time forward as a small forward and Luke Goater [who has committed to the Lions full time] who can play on ball, will most likely be a key forward.
“There’s been quite a lot of work in the background with recruiting. Everyone else besides those players everyone else has signed.
“We’ll have four or five new announcements recruiting wise in a week or two.”
The Lions have already announced the new signings of Anthony Daw, Jamieson House and Mutaz El Nour.
Madigan said the additions would add some height and flexibility to the side throughout the whole ground.
Jackson Barling, who was Victorian Football League listed last season, who played just one senior game last season, has also committed to the club full time.
Madigan said with their existing squad they expected to have a strong side again next year as they step up to the top flight.
He said they were excited for the challenge which was ahead of them.
“We haven’t set expectations as of yet,” he said. “We want to find our feet.
“We are aiming to make finals and see what happens from there. We want to get in there and establish ourselves.”
Madigan said in another positive sign for the club they would have under-18s next season for the first time in a number of years and with their under-16s were starting to put together a strong junior program.
