Josh O'Farrell appointed senior men's coach at St Pats FC

The 32-year-old has taken over from Javi Martinez, whose work commitments have prompted him to step down from the role this year.

O'Farrell has been at the club since he was six years old and had a successful spell in charge of the senior women's team before continuing his coaching journey as an assistant with the men.

St Pats won just two games in Division 1 last season but O'Farrell is relishing the challenge in front of him.

"It's going to be tough," he admitted.

"We've lost a few players so we'll reach out and see who's interested in coming back.

"The boys were heading in the right direction last year.

"We had some good results and we had some really consistent efforts along the way.

"Realistically, we're not a top-four team but our aim is to be consistently competitive.

"If we can sneak into the bottom half of finals, you never know, because anything can happen on the day.

"If we can get a good social and cultural environment, the on-field stuff will start to follow."

Tobias Walsh has moved away for university and Scott Mildren is now a father of twins, although the goalkeeper may play some part in the 2022 season.

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One of O'Farrell's main objectives will be to re-engage the players who have drifted away from the club in recent years, with junior development high on his list after accepting the top job at Alexandra Park.

"I'd like to see some success for this club," he said.

"It's been a while.

"We've had our ups and downs but I don't think we've ever won a grand final at senior level and that's what we want to build towards.

"It may take us a few years but I want to keep developing the juniors we've got coming through and making sure there's a clear pathway.

"We've got some really good kids in the under-14s, unreal talent, so we'll try to get them involved this year so that in a year or two's time, when they're ready to take that step, they know what to do, they know the standard and they're not intimidated."

St Pats will host Albury Hotspurs in round one when the AWFA season kicks off on Sunday March 13.

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