From the Bayside Leader
Courtesy Leader Group Newspapers

Reported by Simon McEvoy

THE man behind Sandringham's triple premiership golden era, coach Mark Williams, is moving on.

Last Friday Williams took a full-time job as development coach at Melbourne Football Club. It's an exciting opportunity for the 43-year-old, who has ambitions to be an AFL senior coach.

"My ambitions are to hopefully become a senior coach if I can, so this was a step forward in that regard," he said.  "I went for the senior job last year at Melbourne and they basically said to me if I want to move forward I've got to do some assistant coaching and go from there."

Williams' association with Sandringham was filled with success and he will always be known as a club legend.  A former Carlton and Footscray utility, Williams played in the Zebras' 1992 flag. A decade later, in October, 2003, he was appointed coach of the club, and he made a breathtaking entrance, guiding the Zebras to the 2004 premiership, followed by the '05 and '06 flags.

This year, Sandringham finished on top of the ladder but bowed out of the finals in the semis.