Chris Gardner and Adam Sewell, pictured in the middle singing the club song after the elimination final win over Springbank, have been reappointed as joint coaches in 2013. PICTURE: ADAM TRAFFORD
NEWLYN has re-signed joint coaches Adam Sewell and Chris Gardner for the 2013 Central Highlands Football League season.
The pair’s reappointment comes after it led the Cats to their first finals appearance since 2003 this year.
Sewell, a playing coach, and Gardner took the club from a 12th-placed finish in 2011 to seventh and an elimination final win over Springbank in their debut season at the helm.
Newlyn president Gary Lindsay said after the duo helped exceed the club’s goals, the coaching decision was never in doubt.
“It’s a good mix and it worked really well. Adam is the leader out on field and Chris is doing all of the stuff on bench and at training,” Lindsay said.
“They learnt a lot in the 12 months and we are hoping in the next 12 months it takes us a lot further.”
Lindsay said the club felt it wasn’t that far off the mark in a strong 2012 campaign.
“We beat Buninyong which is one of the teams that played off in the grand final and didn’t get beaten by much by most teams apart from Hepburn at the end of the season,” he said.
While the reappointment comes as no surprise, the club officially announced that Sewell and Gardner would continue in the role following its recent end-of-season presentation evening.
Onballer Tristan May claimed the Cats’ senior best and fairest award - the Dimond Trophy - ahead of Sewell, who was runner-up. May was also named the team’s best player during the senior finals campaign.
Grant Boyd took home the Nick Rousch Trophy as the reserves best and fairest, winning from runner-up Matt LaFranchi.
Earl Cody and Xavier Slater tied for the under-18 award and Luke Prendergast won the under-15 honours.
Kate Richardson (A-grade), Anna Dwyer (B-grade), Lucy Hocking (C-grade), Olivia Prendergast (under-17), Celie Hay (under-15) and Maggie Prendergast (under-13A) collected the club’s netball best and fairest trophies.