Melton South will have a new football coach for next year’s Ballarat Football League season with Ryan Hoy departing the club.
Hoy and Jason Hamilton were appointed co-coaches for this season, with Hamilton departing the club in early June after being told that he wasn’t in the club’s plans going forward.
Hoy stayed on telling Star Weekly at the time that he had brought in five or six players to the club and he couldn’t leave them behind.
While the Panthers haven’t publicly announced the departure of Hoy, Black Rock has announced him as its senior coach for next season.
“Black Rock Football Netball Club is thrilled to announce the appointment of Ryan Hoy as the new Senior Men’s coach for 2024.
‘This decision marks a significant step forward for the club. We aim to build on the 2023 season, which was a rebuilding phase.
“Numerous young players joined the club and showed improved performance in the latter half of the year.”
The club said that Hoy was looking forward to a much shorter commute as he lives in Cheltenham.
For the Panthers, they will now be looking for a third senior coach in as many years.
It was a tough year on field for the Panthers that failed to win a match.
After losing a large group of numbers in the off season and a number of injuries on top of that, the Panthers struggled to be competitive suffering several 200 point losses.
The Panthers averaged just 29 points per game, while conceding on average a massive 187.5 points.
Hoy said back in June there were good signs for the future.
“We’re going to play guys who will be senior footballers for years to come,” he said.
“There’s definitely a lot of young talent at the club. I’ve coached under-19s, I’ve coached Dane Swan, Brendan Fevola and Aaron Edwards.
“I’ve never seen such a young group connected to a club. The club has so much untapped potential, it’s about making sure they have the right coaching.
“They are under no illusions where we’re at.”
On the netball court, the Panthers had three sides in finals.
The B-grade, D-grade and E-grade teams all suffered losses. The E-grade team has a second chance having finished on top of the ladder.
They will face Melton in a knockout semi final on Sunday.
Tara Murray
