Tara Murray
Lancefield coach Tom Waters has stood down to concentrate on playing in the Riddell District Football League.
Waters has combined playing and coaching the last three seasons, but has decided to stand down from coaching as he can’t commit 100 per cent to both roles.
Waters said while he could always get back to coaching in the future, he had to make the most of his playing days while he could.
“I still want to play,” he said. “Originally when I first came across it was to play for one year and then full time coaching.
“With a year off with COVID, the body was still feeling alright but it was hard to do both.
“I was not giving 100 per cent to either.
“I’m looking forward to playing and not having anything else weighing me down.”
Waters will continue to play for the Tigers, his junior club. Waters won two Bowen medals at the Tigers before becoming a premier ruck for Gisborne in the Bendigo Football League. He then returned to the RDFL to play with Macedon, before returning to the Tigers in 2020.
Waters said he was keen to give coaching another crack down the track once his playing days were over.
It’s been a tough three years in charge at the Tigers for Waters, with just one full season due to the pandemic.
He said while it was tough he loved coaching.
“We did a whole pre-season the first year we didn’t get to play,” he said. “We didn’t learn anything as we didn’t play.
“We then had another pre-season and then half a season. We had half a year to adapt and work out what we had to work on.”
The Tigers won just two games this year, but the results didn’t tell the full story. The aim had been the last few years to get the fun back to the club and get players wanting to play for them.
That’s exactly what they achieved.
“Spectators who have been supporters their whole life have said that it is enjoyable to watch,” he said.
“The Diggers Rest and Wallan coaching staff have said that when we’ve come up against them, that we’ve been really competitive and really hard to play against.
“We just haven’t had the scoreboard pressure. The guys are enjoying the way we are playing and we’re hard to compete.
“The last thing is adding that scoreboard pressure.”
