Yarrawonga Pigeons re-sign Mark Whiley as coach for 2022

Lavington's Simon Curtis stood down towards the end of the home and away season, while Wodonga Raiders' mentor Jarrod Hodgkin announced in May he would step down after the year.

Former Corowa-Rutherglen coach Marc Almond has been linked to the position.

Whiley took over the Pigeons' top job from Damian Sexton after the 2019 season.

And it's difficult to imagine any coach has had a tougher baptism of fire than the former GWS and Carlton midfielder.

The first year was finally cancelled in June, 2020, without a game being played due to COVID, while the pandemic again forced this season to be cut short by five weeks with tremendous uncertainty at times over when play would resume, if at all.

It's been difficult enough for an experienced mentor to cope and, to make matters worse, Whiley battled injury at times, playing his last game on July 3, although there's been only two since.

The club was also smashed by injuries with boom recruit Willie Wheeler missing the season with a foot problem.

The Pigeons just need a break to return to the top five for the first time since 2018 after 13 successive finals campaigns, just one short of Wangaratta Rovers' league record.

"Mark and his coaching team have introduced an increased level of professionalism with increased training loads, a club gym, GPS tracking, video reviews of the game and individualised video edit packages for each player of their previous week's match," club president Ross Mulquiney enthused.

"Mark has invested significantly in the club's junior development program, not only as a contributor to the AWJFL program, but also behind the scenes in outlining an entire club training development program."

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