Click or flick across for photos of Ken Stevenson during his time with the club.
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WODONGA Raiders co-coach Ken Stevenson has stepped down after one season at the helm.
In a major bombshell in the countdown to the Ovens and Murray season, Stevenson, pictured, met with club officials late last week and yesterday claimed increasing work commitments had made it impossible to stay in the position.
Stevenson runs a multi-milliondollar building business, Lekeal Homes, based at Yarrawonga.
The Raiders will immediately turn their attention to finding a replacement to help rookieco-coach Ben Klemke.
“I’ve enjoyed my time at Raiders but a 40 per cent increase in work commitments has made it impossible for me to continue coaching,” Stevenson said.
“It’s that simple.
“Family and work always has and always will be my first priority. That’s the reality of it.
“I did a lot of hard work last year without much help.
“I think I have done a good job over the off-season in getting recruits and get them in a position where they can be competitive.”
Newly elected president Nic Conway acknowledged Stevenson’s contribution during a difficult 2013 season in which the club collected the wooden spoon.
“The club appreciates the difficulty of this decision by Ken and we hope he will maintain an involvement with us into the future,” Conway said.
Stevenson, who lives at
Yarrawonga, led Jindera to the flag in his first season at the helm in 2010.
He coached the Bulldogs for three seasons before replacing Corey Lambert at the Raiders.
Stevenson also coached Devenish to a flag in 2005.
“I love all the young guys there and I didn’t really want to let them down but I felt I would let them down more if I continued on, and work and family was more important to me then anything else,” Stevenson said.
“My family is disappointed I didn’t see out another season but I felt at the end of the day it was better to make the decision now than wait two months and hope work wasn’t as busy.