Simon Lethlean has been appointed the VAFA’s Senior Representative Coach following discussions between the Board and Director of Representative Football Nigel Credlin.
Lethlean, who coached the Big V Premier C-Division 4 team this season, is a dual premiership coach with Old Xaverians. In that three year stint at Toorak Park, his teams strung together an impressive record of 47 wins and 13 losses.
A highly-skilled five-time premiership player with Xavs, Lethlean, known widely as “Jars”, was a regular Victorian player and captained the senior team in 2001.
VAFA President Bruno Conti said the Board was extremely happy that Lethlean had accepted the role.
“We believe that Simon will continue the great work done by Dean Anderson and will support him all the way,” Mr Conti said.
“Simon has enormous football knowledge and has proven extremely capable of bringing players together to perform as one unit.
Coach Lethlean, who is by day the Manager of Broadcasting, Scheduling & Legal Affairs at the AFL, was honoured by the appointment.
“I played under some great coaches at club and representative level and would like to think I’ve learned something from each. The Big V has always been important to me and I know that many of my former teammates and opponents had a real drive to test themselves against our best and ultimately, the best of our opponents,” Lethlean said.
“First up, we’ve got a tough nut to crack at the end of March. The EFL will be desperate to beat us after we pipped them in 2009. I’m looking forward to getting together with the selectors to announce a squad of 40 before Christmas. I am delighted that we have such a rich pool of talent to choose from,” he said.