SWAN HILL have announced the signing of Michael Herlihy as coach for the 2024 season, as the club plans for future success.
Herlihy comes to Swan Hill in high regard, having made his name as a ball-winner and goalkicker for South Bendigo.
Herlihy takes over the reins from Cal Beasy, who announced his departure earlier this month.
Herlihy told The Guardian he was “feeling super excited to take on the role next year”.
“After doing three months of pre-season last year and seeing first hand what a great group Swan Hill has, it’s certainly something I’m lucky to be a part of,” he said.
“I’m most looking forward to working with the group to continue to develop the hard work that Cal Beasy and the boys have put in, and hopefully build toward success.
“I’m also eager to help develop the young kids coming through the pathways to further their skills, it’s an exciting part of the job.”
While this will be Herlihy’s first senior coaching role, Swan Hill Football Club football operations manager Chris Smith said the signing was “a huge coup for the club”.
“Michael has been a highly touted Bendigo league player over the last few years, and the fact that he has a strong link to the town made him a key target for us,” he said.
“He was at South Bendigo for a few years, before heading to Numurkah in the Murray Football Netball League.
“That’s kind of where he cut his teeth, and the area that he grew up in, so he’s very used to good standards of footy.
“He’s a midfielder and a goalkicker. He kicked 25 playing through the middle last year and has claimed hauls of 50 goals during his seasons at Numurkah.
“His partner Evie has strong ties to the club, with her father having been a life member of Swan Hill Football Club.
“As soon as we were aware that they were looking at moving back to Swan Hill, then it became pretty evident to us that he was the calibre of person that the club should really be targeting.”
Herlihy had joined the club’s pre-season campaign, giving him the opportunity to get to know the players.
Smith said it was often difficult to find the right coach for country football teams, but Swan Hill had been lucky with its appointments.
“Coaching roles aren’t always the easiest to fill, especially when you’re in a bit of an isolated town which is a fair way from Melbourne and Bendigo,” he said.
“We’ve been blessed for a long period of time by having a lot of stars of the club being around to lead the way from that coaching point of view.
“Over the COVID-19 years, we sort of realised that the demographic of those stars were getting a bit older and that we needed to be proactive in building that next wave of players.”
Smith said that on top of Herlihy’s football knowledge, his ability to manage people and his character were what the Swans were looking for in a coach.
“He’s a highly touted player,” Smith said. “But I can honestly say that he’s an even better person.
“He’s a very good people person, he’s actually a schoolteacher by trade.
“This year we’ve sort of targeted a few of those younger guys, to come in and re-energise our group a bit which we think has worked well.
“We see the appointment of Michael as sort of the second wave of that change.
“It’s always a bit of a process when you have a changing list and we are pretty happy about our progression and the way we’re tracking.
“But to have someone that we were able to identify and actually have it come to fruition is a huge deal for the club.”
