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Issue date: Friday 2 October, 2026
Dear Members,
As many of you will be aware the Club is well underway in its search for our next VFL Senior Coach, with an announcement expected in the coming weeks. This will put the Club in a good position and well in time for the program to be settled ahead of pre-season commencing in late-November.
We wanted to give our members some insight into how this process is being run.
The search is being led by Apogee Sports, headed by Brad Lloyd, a name synonymous with success at Williamstown. Brad co-captained our 2003 Premiership team and is a three-time Club Best and Fairest winner.
Since his playing days he has built one of the most respected administrative careers in the AFL industry, spending 11 years as Fremantle's General Manager of List Management before moving to Carlton as Head of Football/General Manager of Football. Few people in Australian football have sat across both elite list management and senior football department leadership the way Brad has, and even fewer carry a Seagulls premiership on their resume.
We are fortunate to have someone with that calibre of experience and that depth of understanding of our club running our senior coach recruitment search.
Brad's process is being closely supported by CEO Ashley Baker and Football Directors Troy West (Club Vice President and co-captain with Brad Lloyd in 2003) and Cameron Lockwood along with Ben Jolley, who like Brad, all have Premiership winning credentials. Between them, this panel brings a rare combination of elite industry judgement and an intimate understanding of what it takes to succeed in the VFL and at Williamstown Football Club.
We are seeking the right person to take our football program to the next level. To that end, the search has been genuinely national in scope reaching deep into AFL and VFL coaching networks across the country to ensure Williamstown has access to the best candidates available, not just those already on our radar.
Over recent weeks the panel has tested that field directly, assessing not only football thinking, but how each candidate would build a program and lead within the realities of a standalone VFL club.
We look forward to sharing more detail with members as the process concludes over the coming weeks.
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Willy had good season just need to go those couple of extra steps, Having said that it's getting harder and harder for "Stand Alone's" to compete at the business end of the year. Werribee and Port did well to play finals but up against the AFL teams the odds of premiership success aren't good. Time for the AFL to pour decent money into these clubs if they truly want them to succeed. Maybe a transfer fee of half a players salary when they are picked up by the AFL would be a good start.
Williamstown Football Club is delighted to announce the appointment of Torin Baker as the Club’s new VFL Senior Coach for the 2027 season.
Baker joins the Seagulls with an extensive coaching background spanning elite development, talent pathways and senior football, including roles with Carlton and Hawthorn at AFL level.
Most recently, Baker has worked with the Carlton Football Club as an AFL Development Coach, a position he began in 2021, and during that time founded the Carlton College of Sport Football Development Program.
Prior to joining Carlton, Baker spent two seasons as a Development Coach with Hawthorn, working within Alastair Clarkson’s coaching panel after six years at the helm of the Western Jets in the TAC Cup, now the Coates Talent League.
During his time with the Jets, Baker led the program to three finals campaigns and recorded 44 wins across his six seasons, with numerous players he coached progressing into AFL careers.
Baker will officially commence his role in November ahead of the VFL pre-season, with his appointment marking the next chapter of his coaching career at Point Gellibrand.
We hear this often however it was only this year that a stand alone wasn't represented in the grand final. It is hard to win it as a stand alone but nknharder than it was 10-15 years ago. Happy to hear reasons as to why some.peole believe its increasingly more difficult.
17 PREMIERSHIPS, 19 X Runners up
THE VFLS MOST SUCCESSFUL CLUB - THE MIGHTY PORT MELBOURNE BOROUGH!
I'M PORT MELBURNE BORN, I'M PORT MELBOURNE BRED, I'LL BE PORT UNTIL I'M DEAD!!!
I recall reading an article in 2022 that argued that the gap between the AFL and the state leagues had never been greater than it is now because of continued advances in sports science and the resulting high performance improvements. So that would be one argument. Of course then in 2024 the VFL grand final was Werribee v Southport and Werribee won after defeating Geelong and Brisbane in the qualifying and prelim finals, so I'm inclined to agree that it's not actually more difficult now than in the recent past.