The East Burwood Football Club would like to advise all of its members, supporters and sponsors that our senior coach Stuart Wynd will not be continuing in the role beyond this season. Stuart communicated his decision to the committee following the game last weekend.
Stu took on the role in October 2017 when the club was at its lowest ebb. He was fully aware of the scale of the project in trying to turn around the fortunes of the Rams after the club had been relegated to Division 4 of the EFL , collecting four wooden spoons in five years. He was attracted to the romance of returning to a club where he had played a lot of footy and collected premierships in 1999 and 2000. He quickly gathered support from a group of former players that included Scott Hunter, Adam Slater and Luke Slater. ”Hopefully we can bring a bit of excitement back to the club and get the place buzzing again” Wynd said.
At a meeting to discuss the need to recruit and build confidence in the playing list a call was received from another former Ram ,Jason Kennedy who committed to coming back to the club to start the rebuild of the playing list.
The greatest measure of success in a role is leaving an organisation in a better place when you depart. By every key metric Stu and his team achieved this and more. In 2022 the Rams finished third in Division 2 of the EFNL having proved many experts wrong in compiling a 13 wins 5 losses record during the home and away season.
The club has a young talented list of players with a huge air of excitement around what they can achieve in the next few seasons. The culture at the Rams has undergone a massive turnaround with the club now boasting six netball teams and for the first time in its history a premiership winning Senior Women’s team.
His love of the club was evident in everything he did during his term as senior coach.The Rams would like to thank Stu and his family for his tireless work over the last five years and hope he can now enjoy watching his son play footy at Rowville on Saturday afternoons. We are forever indebted to you for all you achieved.
The club would also like to thank Harry Black, Scott Hunter and Steven Quinn for their selfless dedication to the club over this period. Harry coached the reserves for the last five years finishing on top of the ladder each year and enjoying premiership success in 2018.
Saturday also marked the final game at the Rams for Jason Kennedy and Andre Angemi. Kanga was the on field leader over the last five years after returning from Balwyn in 2017. He was instrumental in bringing a large group of players back to the club to kick start the rebuild. During his two stints at the Rams Jason was voted best and fairest on four occasions. We wish Jason, Andre and their families all the best in the next phase of their lives.
The football club will be advertising for a new Senior, Reserves and Under 19’s coach in the coming weeks.
