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From the Herald-Sun

Reported by Daryl Timms
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FORMER Geelong and Adelaide coach Gary Ayres will coach Port Melbourne in the VFL for the next two years.

Ayres, an assistant coach at Essendon for the past two seasons, accepted the job yesterday.

He replaces Saade Ghazi, who did not have his contract renewed, despite coaching Port into the finals this year.

Ayres was not offered an assistant coaching role by new Essendon coach Matthew Knights, who wanted the former Hawthorn champion to accept a full-time opposition analysis role.

But Ayres said last night he was over-qualified for the job and still had ambitions of coaching a senior AFL side. "I was happy to stay at Essendon if there was another coaching job there," he said.


Ayres said he was looking forward to grass-roots football and believed he still had a lot to offer.

"It was a real good opportunity for me to coach in my own right and be involved in a stand-alone organisation and a club that has been probably one of the real traditional VFA-VFL clubs," Ayres said.

"Hopefully, it's a win-win situation for both parties."

Ayres said he would continue to be involved in football in the hope of getting another AFL coaching job. "While the flame still burns, I want to remain in the loop, I guess," he said.

Port Melbourne is not aligned with an AFL team.

Another Essendon assistant coach, Dean Wallis, left Windy Hill last week but he has been offered a role under Mark Harvey at Fremantle.