A CONTROVERSIAL coaching decision at the Cootamundra Rugby League Football Club annual general meeting has left several players and club members offside before the start of the 2015 season.
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Darren Prosser has been elected head coach of the under 18s side with Todd Cowled, Andrew Johnson and Dale Thompson assisting.
This came as a surprise to many players as for the past four seasons they have been coached by Heath Lomax.
Club president Wayne Berkrey says in his 12 years as part of the committee he has never experienced two parties applying for the same position, and it left the members “between a rock and a hard place”.
As soon as the committee was made aware of the situation they arranged for Michael Dabin to chair the meeting.
Michael has more than 20 years experience employed with Country Rugby League and National Rugby League.
“The best way to do things was to have an expert there and Michael knows the constitution like the back of his hand,” Wayne said.
“The financial committee members who were present voted and the process was completely above board,” he added.
Wayne said with two strong parties it was unfortunate somebody had to miss out.
“It’s terrible that it’s caused this conflict but unfortunately it was what we had to do.”
Wayne expressed his thanks to Heath for his successful years coaching the team.
“The boys have learned plenty under his guidance and he has always been a pleasure to work with,” Wayne said.
Wayne is hopeful now the difficult decision has been reached that the club and players can move forward and focus on the season at hand.
Training does not begin until early February but the new coaches will be looking to communicate with the players before then with the Christmas party and jersey presentation on Friday, December 5.
Two players have already discussed leaving the club as a result of the coaching decision, including last season’s captain Charlie Annetts.
“Heath is a local guy and we have won a grand final under him, so to take the coaching job away from him is just low,” Charlie said.
“I’m sad to be saying this because Cootamundra has been my club all my life.
“There needs to be a new way to make a decision that also takes into account how the players feel.”
