By Marcus Uhe
With coaching vacancies cropping up across the local football landscape, Narre Warren has locked away the services of Steven Kidd for another season at Kalora Park.
Kidd is enjoying a brilliant first season at the helm at Narre Warren, a side he enjoyed much success with as a player, and currently has the Magpies primed for another premiership tilt with four games remaining in the home-and-away season, sitting a game clear at the top of the table in Outer East Football Netball Premier Division.
It wasn’t a difficult decision for Kidd, who has hardly put a foot wrong since replacing Shane Dwyer, and will likely lead the club into a new era in the Southern Football Netball League in 2025, pending league approval.
“It was probably always something that I was going to do, provided the club was happy,” he said.
“Obviously changing leagues and stuff like that, it’s a bit of an exciting time I suppose and it’s a good group of players to work with.
“We just want to keep building the young group and see where we can take it to.
“I think it (moving competitions) will be an exciting and new thing for us, and (we’ll) get that Cranbourne rivalry back, and (with) Dingley.
“Cheltenham is a strong side and so is St Pauls, so there are a few really strong teams in that competition that will be challenging for us.”
His Magpies notched a 13th win from 14 games on Saturday afternoon in a wet and turgid affair against a plucky Officer side playing with a point to prove.
Belted by 98 points back in round four, Officer offered far more resistance in the return clash, going down by 16 points in a 7.8 50 to 4.10 34 contest.
Four of the opening six goals went the Magpies’ way, helping to establish a break on their opponents before the rain set in and made scoring tough.
The weather conditions were “virtually a carbon copy” of what the Magpies faced in their only loss this season to Upwey Tecoma, and Kidd felt the Kangaroos played the elements better.
“They played a really good brand of wet-weather footy and we probably struggled a little bit to adapt,” he said.
“I thought we overused the ball a little and I think Officer turned up really ready to play, and looking that they had a chance against us.
“They played really well and we were probably lucky to get away with a win.
“Having said that, we opened up a three-goal lead and it never changed from there too much.
“We’d probably like to improve our wet-weather footy going into the last part of the year anyway, because there’s a good chance we might get some wet conditions coming up.”
Peter Gentile made it through a second game back from injury unscathed, with defenders Joel Zeitsman, Hayden Johnson and Tom Russell among the Magpies’ best.
Officer handed a senior debut to another teenager in Diesel De Santis, who marked the occasion with a goal, and Ben Gilberto impressed in his first senior game since round five.
