SHANE Snibson is committed to getting Sebastopol back on the straight and narrow.
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The 38-year-old has signed a two-year deal as senior coach of the Kookaburras, which he joins after a six-year assistant role at the North Ballarat Roosters.
Snibson was introduced to Sebastopol players and supporters on Tuesday night and will now begin planning for the 2015 Ballarat Football League season.
He takes over the position vacated by Phil Carman, who was sacked with three games to play in 2014, and interim coach Wayne Sheridan, who completed the year.
Kookaburras president Chris Parker said it was great that Snibson had the "courage" to take on the job at a club that has struggled with on-field success for a long period of time.
"He's a really well respected local football person and being an ex-Sebastopol junior makes it an even better appointment," Parker told The Courier.
"As a club, we are really keen to get behind him and we are hopeful that a number of ex-players will be keen to get back involved with the club and help us to turn things around.
"There's no doubt there's a lot of support for our club and a lot of people are keen to see us become successful again. If we are going to do that, we have got to get behind Shane and give him all the support we can muster."
Snibson's position at Sebastopol will be his third senior coaching job after holding down roles with Redan and Beulah, where he won a premiership in 2005.
He played nine seasons for the Roosters and was part of the club's VFL flags in a coaching capacity in 2009 and 2010.
Snibson wished to acknowledge his time working at the Roosters - particularly as an assistant to head coach Gerard FitzGerald - and his experiences with Redan, where he was involved in two grand final wins, including one as a player.
He said he would take confidence from the rebuilding efforts of Redan and more recently Gordon and Lake Wendouree and hopes he can support the Kookaburras' young list to improve quickly, while also adding strength with recruits.
"It will take some courage of one or two to see the opportunity that is presented there," Snibson, who was on Carlton's supplementary list in 1995, said.
Snibson said the off-field work carried out by Sebastopol over the past two years held it in good stead to see improvement on the ground.