Great Western senior football coach Will Bell has been recognised for his standout season at the helm of the Lions, named as the AFL Western District senior coach of the year.
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Bell was nominated for the award when he was selected as coach of the week back in May.
He is now in the running for AFL Victoria coach of the year, competing against other coaches from regions around Victoria. Bell will attend an awards night on November 9 where the winner will be announced.
Bell has played a significant part in Great Western’s resurgence in the Mininera District Football League this year. He took the Lions from one win and the wooden spoon in 2017 to five wins and a ninth-place finish. He has also played a key role in helping Auskick return to Great Western.
“It is a nice award to win. I won an Auskick one a few years ago so it is great to be recognised again for my work in the senior field,” Bell said.
“I have put it in a club point of view that people are acknowledging we are improving overall. The individual accolade comes purely off the back of the work of other people.”
The Lions were big movers in the last MDFL off-season, recruiting strongly with Bell’s leadership a big draw card.
He said he hopes the award can continue to give his team confidence they are on the right path.
“It gives the guys a little boost they are doing the right things,” he said.
“We finished quite early since we didn’t make finals so we made sure our own playing list was tied up which it is now.
”We are also on the hunt to keep bolstering our team. We have some great young kids coming through as well as some other local guys we are hoping will want to come across and join something special we are building.”
Also on the radar of the Lions are more players from the Tiwi Islands. Tiwi Islander Steve Lorenzo played for the Lions this year and is likely to return to Great Western in 2019 with some more footballers from the region.
“There may be a few more Tiwi Island boys coming down next season,” Bell said.
“We are pretty sure Stevie is coming back. He gave us a big boost this season but he is still only 19 and finding his way. Some of the guys we are looking at have played state level and could be really exciting to bring in.”