Hillside is looking for a new coach to lead the club into the 2015 season after deciding not to renew Steve Kolyniuk’s contract.
Kolyniuk was in charge of the Sharks for two seasons, taking the club to the Essendon District Football League division 2 premiership in 2013.
After being promoted, Hillside won five games this season and finished seventh on the division 1 ladder.
Sharks’ vice-president, Adam Volpato, thanked Kolyniuk for a job well done.
“Steve was a terrific coach in his time and he met all the objectives that we set out,” he said.
“We regard Steve as a Hillside member now.
He may not be coaching next year, but we still want him to be part of the club.”
Volpato said there had been no shortage of candidates interested in the vacant coaching role and the club had already spoken to eight potential replacements as of the middle of last week. Volpato said the Sharks would look at both playing and non-playing coach options.
One of the reasons for the popularity of the role is the exciting junior base at Hillside.
The club had five players represent the Western Jets this season and a host of talented kids are coming through the under-14, under-16 and under-18 groups.
“Our youth policy is probably one of the strongest in the league,” Volpato said.
“We have exceptional players coming through the juniors.
“We also have a policy to promote from within in regards to the juniors playing senior football.
“None of the juniors at the club have left. They have all gone to higher football at the Jets or stayed and played senior football.”
While Hillside will continue to promote its juniors, that hasn’t stopped players approaching the club keen to get in before a potential finals run next year.
Volpato said that following minimal recruiting after winning the division 2 premiership, the club had been inundated with requests from players to join the Sharks for 2015.
“It’s funny because last year we won the flag and, really, our recruiting was minimal,” he said.
“This season we have finished seventh and we’ve had that many expressions of interest from players wanting to come to the club.
“We haven’t had to chase anyone. We must be doing something right because the attraction of players who want to come to the club is amazing.”
