New Melton South coach Jason Hamilton was planning to have a couple of years off coaching.
Having coached in both Victoria and Tasmania he was looking to step back from coaching and do other things.
But when the Ballarat Football League club came knocking, it was an opportunity that Hamilton couldn’t turn down. He replaces Heath Pritchard as coach.
“I’m really looking forward to the opportunity,” Hamilton said. “It’s the big opportunity I was waiting for in my coaching career.
“The club reached out to me two or three weeks ago to see if I was doing anything next year.
“I had been planning to have a couple of years off to recharge the batteries. We had our first meeting and then a second meeting, and I was happy with what I was hearing from them.”
Hamilton comes to the Panthers having coached in the Western Region and Northern football leagues, while in the Burnie Football League in Tasmania.
More recently he has been an assistant coach at St Kilda City.
For Hamilton, it was the allure of working with a young group of players that attracted him to the role at Melton South.
“I’m really confident that I can get the job done and get the boys back up the table from where they’ve been the last few years,” he said.
“Our young guys are improving and are only going to get better. They mean 100 per cent for the club and they’re loyal guys too.”
Part of that focus, the club will have an under-18 side back up and running next year. Hamilton said that was pretty excited about having that team.
“We’re building a foundation with getting the young guys coming through,” he said. “ It’s really fantastic to get the local talent at the club and in the next two to three years, they’ll be really good senior players.”
Hamilton said they had been talking to a number of senior players to come and join the club for next season.
He said while they had a lot of young talent, they needed some more support.
“We’re definitely looking to get some recruits with a bit more experience and some mature bodies,” he said.
“We’re not looking at one or two superstars, we want to have some more depth across both our sides and help the young ones.
“They were being battered around come the end of the game. Hopefully we’ll announce some signings in the next week or two.”
Hamilton knows he has a big job as he tries to help the Panthers go from down the bottom of the table.
He said it will take some time, saying they were under no illusions it was likely to be a slow rise up the ladder.
