Pennant Hills AFL is pleased to advise a strong coaching panel ahead for season 2018.

Head of Coaching / Chairman of Selectors – Michael “Cuz” Cousens

Cuz will again play the fantastic advisory and mentor role for our coaching group. With a deep and astute knowledge of almost every player across all grades, and the game style each team is capable of, Cuz is always available for advice and provides the (sometimes needed) challenge to our coaches, in order to maximise outcomes. This is such an important position for any club to be successful, and we luckily have the best again.

Premier Division.

Coach – Chris Yard – Dual premiership and five time grand final coach, Yardy is locked and loaded for a record 7th year and seeking the elusive back to back premiership, a challenge never achieved by Penno first grade teams.

Assistant Coach – Lloyd Shepherd – Shep claims he is retired (let’s see) and comes into 2018 as Assistant Coach. With a very impressive playing history, his knowledge and experience shared at training and game day will be of great assistance to YD and the team.

Assistant Coach – Andrew “Macca” McLellan – Macca is back again for a 5th year doing what he does best, and has become a familiar sight standing next to YD when it matters most.

Premier Reserves Division.

Coach – Jason Clarke – Clarkey has banned August and September holidays for him and his playing group this year, and if anyone deserves the reward of premiership glory, its Jason and his diverse mixture of experience and youth that are expecting to do well in 2018.

Assistant Coach – Wayne “Razor” Keating – The partnership continues, back for a 7th year working alongside Clarkey, we really are blessed to have such stability and deep footy experience like Razor’s across our senior grades.

Division One.

Coach – Todd Williams – We are excited to announce and welcome Toddy to a senior coaching role.  After many years coaching at Hornsby juniors, Todd coached our 19’s Div 2 before moving across many grades assisting as a specialist coach. Working closely with the womens program, and then more recently supporting Boxy with the 3rds in the latter part of last year, Todd sets the benchmark for investing time in his own development attending coaching programs across Australia. Welcome Todd.

Assistant Coach / Playing Captain- Nathan “Boxy” Breen – After so many years coaching and leading 3rd grade singlehandedly, including taking the boys to the 2016 Grand Final,  Boxy gets the chance to utilise the incremental support available this year. We look forward to watching the partnership develop that he and Todd formed last season, whilst continuing his outstanding leadership as Assistant Coach / Playing Captain for season 2018.

Assistant Coach – Brendan “Bots” Gregor – welcoming Brendan Gregor to the Penno coaching group. Bots has a lifetime of football knowledge behind him as player, coach, president, etc etc etc. Most recently President of Penno juniors and under 17’s coach in 2015, our 3rd grade have gone from Boxy carrying the load, to a very strong and formidable coaching panel that will certainly have this team firing. Welcome Brendan.

Division Two.

Coach – Tim “T-Bone” Wolnizer – please join us in congratulating T-Bone to the coaching ranks. Never a stranger on the footy field when it comes to sharing an opinion, idea, feedback for team-mates or just putting his body on the line at every contest, T-Bone has accepted the challenge of replacing the wonderful coaching partnership that Bags and Sir Donny created.  Well done T-Bone.

With T-Bone’s appointment only just confirmed, we have not had the opportunity to yet appoint Assistant Coaches, so more to come shortly.

Division Three.

Whilst we have nominated a team for season 2018, we are yet to confirm our acceptance to this grade and will rely on players numbers over coming weeks before a decision is made to proceed at this level.

Division 1 Under 19’s.

Coach – Trent Roddan – lining up for his 3rd year, Trent invests a huge amount of time and effort in the development of our current and future talent of our club. 7 Premiership Premier Division players in 2017 eligible for under 19’s, is a firm example our our commitment to young players at Penno, and Trent will again led the charge in developing this group.

Assistant Coach – Still to be confirmed.

Womens Div 1 /2.

Head of Women’s Football- Mark Carroll – this newly created position at Penno and a real indicator of our investment in Women’s footy and the high expectations we are setting ourselves for the future. We are delighted that someone of Mark’s capability will be heading up the Womens program and assisting in all facets of their development. Whilst Mark has been assisting with the 19’s for the past 2 years, he has often been available to support the girls at training and skill development, so he comes with valued thoughts on how we best take Penno footy to the next level. Congratulations Mark

Coach – Daniel “Fids” Fiedler –  Fids is back for his 3rd year of coaching our Penno girls (aka Al’s Angels). This year Fids has high expectations of season 2018, and drafted a very comprehensive plan to further advance our performance. With fantastic early player numbers, we will be nominating a second Women’s team for season 2018 (yet to be accepted by Sydney AFL), and should our nomination be accepted, we will require an additional coach.

Whilst we have not formally appointed an assistant coach just yet, we have a long list of footy experienced talent who have indicated their increased assistance to our women this year. Terry “Terry O” Donohue, Yardy, Theo, Damo and Azza will all play significant roles in training and player development.

The Committee are delighted to have appointed such a talented coaching group, with a mixture of old and new, it gives us great confidence our coaching panel will continue to evolve and strengthen our club.