By Jonty Ralphsmith
Southern Football Netball League Division 1 club Cranbourne has appointed Angelo Soldatos as its coach for the next two seasons.
Soldatos has experience playing and coaching under respected mentors Mick McGuane, Daniel Harford and Dan Donati at respected clubs including Balwyn and East Doncaster.
He will take over from Steve O’Brien who has been at the helm for seven seasons, but it was announced earlier in the season that this season would be his last.
The minds that Soldatos has learned off has given him a solid grounding as he enters his first senior coaching role.
“I can’t wait,” Soldatos said.
“I’ve been doing the senior assistant role and coaching the reserves in the last few years so they’ve been big Saturdays but it has given me the best of both worlds.
“I’m really excited – I feel like I’m ready to do it.
“It will be a learning curve and I’ll make mistakes which is fine, and own them and get better.
“From everything I’ve heard it’s a big, successful footy club filled with good people.
Donati, a highly respected coach in the VAFA impressed on a young Soldatos the importance of connection – long before it became industry common-speak.
His age, 34, gives Soldatos a different ability to form relationships, having retired much more recently than typical non-playing coaches and being a similar age to older members of the list.
“(Geelong coach) Chris Scott recently said how important it is to never forget how hard the game is to play which has stuck in my head,” Soldatos said.
“We see players twice a week during the season so you have to use your time wisely.
“Trying not to over-complicate it and making the expectations really clear is important.
“We’re lucky with the amount of vision and stats that we get a lot of info so it’s about picking your poison and focusing on that.
“Being a similar age to players means we’re probably living similar experiences in our day-to-day lives so if I can be a sounding board for them, hopefully that can help.”
Soldatos also offered an insight into the brand of footy he hopes to bring.
“Everyone wants to be really solid defensively and it has to be an enjoyable brand of footy to play for the players,” Soldatos said.
“I’m really mindful that we want to share the ball around and do those sorts of things so players want to come to trainings and play.”
Vice-president Chris Keenan chaired a subcommittee which appointed the 34-year-old, saying his preparedness and presentation stood out.
“He really took our breath away,” Keenan said.
“We sat there going ‘wow, he was really impressive.’
“We looked at our core group of 21-28 year old players and thought he would fit them really nicely.”
Soldatos was a unanimous choice across the subcommittee.
“He’s really strong with his one on one vision going through what players do well and where they can improve and that’s something our players have been yearning for and that 22-28-year-olds have a thirst for that and the change will be pretty easy,” Keenan said.
“It will be similar sort of language and game-style, it’s just a young, fresh approach with modern vision behind it.”
The Eagles are sitting in fifth position on the table going into the final round of the season, with a departure of two key forwards and injuries contributing to bringing the club back to the pack in 2024 after falling just short in the grand final last year against Cheltenham.
