Sport
‘Our club is just such a great place to be at the moment’: Benalla All Blacks lock in a host of personnel changes ahead of 2023 season
Benalla All Blacks will have a new man pulling the strings of both of its football and netball programs, with club stalwart Phil Spencer stepping up as president for 2023 and beyond.
Spencer comes into the role after spending three seasons as the club’s vice president, and takes over from Doug Aiton who helped lead the All Blacks to premiership glory in the seniors and reserves football competition.
Aiton will still be heavily involved with the club however, and help Spencer acclimate to the top job.
Taking over during what is a very promising time for the club, Spencer said he could not be more excited to get started.
“I am very excited, having served as vice president under Doug Aiton for three years I learned so much and he did such a brilliant job, but he wanted to step back and I’ve decided to give it a go,” Spencer said.
“I’m keen to carry on the great work we did last year, we had such a great committee and I want to make sure we keep that rolling into this season and maybe tweak a few things to build that culture of sustained success.”
Taking on this position continues what is a family affair for Spencer at the All Blacks.
His son Nick coached the club to its senior football premiership last season, while daughter Georgia has won an A-grade best and fairest at the club and will take over as coach in 2023.
Spencer said the family aspect of the club made it so special to be a part of.
“Apart from winning two premierships last year, our club is just such a great place to be at the moment, its got a really good feel about it and lots of sponsors which is exciting,” he said.
“I got involved in the senior aspect of the club back when my son Nick took over as senior coach and its been great to reconnect with a bit of family history, my grandfather was president there around 30 to 40 years ago.
“And now with both kids being involved it really drew me to getting involved in this capacity, its just great to be around your kids and I can’t wait to see what they can achieve.”
Along with the announcement of a new president, the club also confirmed a new-look two pronged A-grade netball coaching unit, with Georgia Spencer and Alara Jones poised to take the reins.
With one of his main goal’s as president being to lift the netball program to A-grade premiership glory, Spencer said he had full confidence the tandem would help lead the All Blacks into an exciting new era on the court.
“It is brilliant to have these two girls lead our A-grade side next season,” he said.
“We put it on the girls to see if they were willing to have a go, and after thinking about it for a while they decided to take the reins.
“They are both such great club people and they both have so much to give, Alara has been around the club for over 20 years and if she can’t pass on a bit of her knowledge with Georgia who has been there for three years and also played a lot of GVL and state netball.
“You don’t get much better netball coaching than that around Benalla, they are the two for the job and we can’t wait to see what they can achieve.”
The All Blacks confirmed a host of other new coaches, with Bernie O’Brien taking over B-grade netball, Heath Smith heading the reserves and Narelle Levy, Holly Robertson and Amy Nicholson taking over junior netball teams.