Taylors Lakes Football Club has appointed Sam Tankard as its new head coach.
Tankard takes over the Essendon District Football League side from Steve Burns, who signed with Hillside at the end of the season.
The new role will be Tankard’s first foray into a head coaching role, although he brings a wealth of on and off-field experience from his time at Essendon Doutta Stars.
“I’ve always wanted to coach,” he said. “I’ve helped Douttas for a fair while now, but I think I need to go away and challenge myself.
“Not last year but in the previous four years to that I was football manager, recruiting, and an assistant coach to the seniors. I’ve probably had a hand in bringing 50 or 60 players at least to Douttas in that time.”
Taylors Lakes is coming off a strong season in the EDFL division 1, where the Lions finished third with an 11-5 record.
The club went through to the preliminary final before being knocked out by West Coburg.
Tankard believes he can get the Lions promoted to premier division.
“I’m pretty happy with the side they have,” he said.
“They have a really good defence.
“I think they were one of the least- scored-against sides in the competition last season.
“They have a good midfield and forwards and I really just want to add a little bit of A-grade class and probably a little bit of depth to the list.”
Tankard is aiming to have his coaching panel finalised this week before the Lions begin pre-season training in the last week of November.
In the meantime, the club will look to add to its playing list for 2015.
