West Australian Football

Peel Thunder coach Chris Waterman will return to Peel in 2009 after re-signing to the club for another three years.

The coach originally signed on for three years back in 2005 but has announced that he will return next season to continue his role.

Waterman said the decision was not a hard one to make and looked forward to seeing the boys through.

“I’ve done a fair bit of work with the boys and I can see that they are really starting to come on and I’ve got strong support from the club so I thought it made sense to continue down the same track,” he said.

“My family also enjoys living here and I hope to get the boys into the finals, if not this year, next year.”

Waterman is the longest serving coach at Peel Thunder since the club began in 1997, and is the first coach to be re-signed by the club.

“I guess the only reason I have been able to do that is by making the people at the club understand that there is no quick fix in football, it’s going to take two or three years to build a solid foundation with our young boys,” he said.

“It does take time for that to happen, you only play 20 games in a year, and it really does take a two or three year bracket to really get the guys to understand and get experience over their bodies.”

Chief Executive of Peel Thunder Cadell Buss said Waterman was an asset to the community and was delighted to have him back next year.

“The club and the community have seen how much of a difference our playing group is playing now and how much they have grown in the last couple of years,” Buss said.

“Everyone has expressed to me their satisfaction that we have managed to hold on to him.”

Waterman said he felt great responsibility in his role and looked forward to taking the club further.

“I look at it like I have a job to do and that I am privileged that I have been given that opportunity. I feel that it is a responsibility, once people have shown that faith in me that I’ve got to fight through it and do everything I possibly can to make the club jump forward and become a powerful club,” he said.