ALBURY has made a spectacular start to its quest to win a hat-trick of premierships by appointing Shaun Daly as co-coach.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
With Chris Hyde privately signalling his intentions to officials to stand down from the helm several months ago, the Tigers turned their attention to luring Daly back from Queensland.
Daly has coached Mayne to back-to-back premierships and won three successive best and fairest awards.
“I’m stoked,” Daly said.
“Obviously I played at Albury for four years and I know a fair bit about the club so to be given the opportunity to coach such a great group is fantastic.
“I was always going to come back eventually and everything just made sense now.
“’Hydey’ has done a great job over the past three years and I’m looking forward to getting stuck into it with Daniel Maher.”
While Hyde said the time was right to step down as coach, he intends to stay at Albury Sportsground as a player.
Hyde and Maher won two premierships in their three years together as co-coaches.
“It’s been fantastic but I think it’s time to hand it over,” Hyde said.
“I spoke to Hodgy (Stuart Hodgson) and PJ (Paul Joss) a while back and then I re-assessed again and it just seems like the right thing to do especially with a young family.
“It’s a big job and Shauny is ideal for the position.
“The club is in a solid position with the points system and a lot of young blokes like Sproule (Zach), Tiziani (Lachie), Grills (James) and Duncan (Michael) came up this year so I think we’re in good shape heading forward.”
Daly said former Wangaratta and AFL player Danny Craven had given him a strong base to build on since he entered the coaching ranks at Mayne.
“Danny is the football director at Mayne and was like a mentor to me,” Daly said.
”He’s been fantastic.
“I learnt an enormous amount from him over the past two years and can’t thank him enough really.”
Daly arrived at Albury from Keysborough in 2009 and played in three straight flags before heading to Queensland.
He won the 2011 Morris Medal.
“The grounds are bigger in Queensland and it’s warmer so it will be interesting to see how I go back home in the cold again,” he said.
“I guess I planned on coming back to play and then when the coaching job came up I thought I’d love to give it a go.”
Albury has won five of the past seven flags, including last weekend’s 29-point win over Lavington.
