SOCCER
JAMIE Skelly has been re-appointed head coach of Langwarrin and Dave Kuhanez is the new head coach of Baxter.
The contrast between the appointments is stark.
Skelly has an extensive senior coaching background and will be in charge of football matters at Lawton Park for a fourth straight season while 2027 will be Kuhanez’s senior team coaching debut.
Under Skelly Langwarrin has finished no higher than ninth and has shown a resilience when confronting the prospect of relegation which has become a persistent issue.
Yet Skelly summed up season 2026 in a positive fashion.
“Overall we achieved what we needed to achieve which is staying in VPL1,” he said.
“Ultimately we’d like to do it a lot earlier than we did this year where we left it late to get the result we wanted.
“And it doesn’t get any easier in fact the league next year will be even stronger with Dandy Thunder, Green Gully and Bentleigh Greens in VPL1 as these are all clubs that have been to the top of the NPL.”
Questions have been asked about Langwarrin’s ambition to reach NPL level and the club’s critics claim it would not be able to maintain such a lofty status.
Not a view Skelly shares.
“We definitely have ambition to play in the top league but we will never be a club that allows its ambition to rule its financial responsibilities.
“If we play in the NPL it would have no impact on the club’s financial sustainability because the club only ever gives me a budget that it knows it can sustain.
“It would never overextend itself to stay at that level.
“Ideally we would love to build a team that would take us up without needing to bring in a whole new team in order to stay there.”
Right now Skelly’s priority is a senior squad revamp and already six players have left Lawton Park.
Leading scorer Alun Webb has joined Bentleigh Greens, midfielder Scott Lochhead is heading back to the NPL, goalkeeper Jonty Benfield has returned to Melbourne City, midfielder Joe Tweats was rumoured to be heading to Bentleigh Greens, Mark Deacon is looking for more senior game time while youngster Lachie Scott who spent last season recovering from an ACL injury is returning to Queensland.
Lochhead only signed a short-term deal with Langy and the club knew that he would return to the NPL at season’s end.
Benfield was signed late last season as an emergency injury replacement.
“We’ve been pretty aggressive in going after some key players we identified who we think can have a major impact,” Skelly said.
“I’m still finalising our current squad so we can’t release the names of the new signings yet but I can tell you that they will definitely improve the squad.”
There’s much more stability off the pitch with minimal changes to the club’s coaching staff.
Skelly will be assisted by Adam Poole and Simon Storey with the latter brought in on a more permanent basis now that his work situation has changed.
Ben Caffrey remains head coach of the U23s with Boris Ovcin and Faraz Zenoozi assisting him while Steve DuPon has moved from the under-14s to the role of under-20s head coach.
At Baxter one of the last major decisions of outgoing president Bray Hodgkinson was to choose a head coach for next season.
Baxter was relegated from State 4 South-East this year.
It was head coach Billy Armour’s second season at Baxter and although he wanted to retain the job the club appointed Kuhanez.
“Billy was still an option to continue with us but we notified him that we wanted to explore our options and see what was the next best step for the club to take,” Hodgkinson said.
“We had a few conversations and considered a few options but ultimately the decision to appoint Dave just felt right.
“It was a perfect opportunity to reward a long-serving clubman and life member who is an incredible people person and a fantastic coach.”
Armour took the decision on the chin and accepted responsibility for the club’s poor year.
“The buck stop with me. It’s as simple as that,” he said.
“There’s no hard feelings towards Baxter as they are a good club with good people and I hope they do well next season.
“I thought I had a stronger squad than last year and I certainly didn’t expect us to end up getting relegated but I accept that I’ve had a bad coaching year.”
Kuhanez is an unknown in senior team coaching circles.
He coached Baxter’s thirds for nine years and the reserves for four years.
He will be assisted by Phil Clinch, George Hughes and Harry Liapis.
Last weekend Kuhanez was doing a C-licence coaching course and is expected to call a players’ meeting shortly.
That’s when the club will be able to gauge the senior players’ reaction to his appointment.
It’s not unusual for a coaching change to trigger player movement but the last thing a relegated club needs is to deal with a large player exodus.
Meanwhile Luke Mulder became Somerville Eagles’ third life member at the club’s recent presentation night.
The club announced Mulder’s award on its Facebook page praising his contribution to the Eagles’ cause.
“Luke has done it all and more.
“He defined the culture at the club in a time where it was still finding its feet.
“And he is a big reason why under his presidency this club had its most successful season winning three league titles in our seniors, our thirds and our fourths.”
Mulder joins Zach Peddersen and Craig Bozelle in an exalted place in the club’s history.
In other news Dylan Waugh won Seaford United’s senior best and fairest award by a point.
Conor Mcfall and Alex Roberts were joint runners-up.
The senior players’ player of the year was Jayden LeBron and the coaches’ award went to Jonas Harrasser.
Reserves best and fairest was Andrew Mazzone and Archie Andrews was runner-up.
The reserves players’ player of the year was Aodhan McLoughlan.
The State 1 women’s best and fairest was Kallista Tzelios while runner-up McKenzie Brown also won the players’ player of the year award.
The State 4 women’s best and fairest was Chloe Swannel and Georgie Morris was runner-up.
The players’ player of the year was Stephanie White.
