South Rovers on hunt for new coach after senior mentor Tim Condon steps down from top role

South Rovers will be on the hunt for a new coach in season 2024 after senior mentor Tim Condon informed the club on Wednesday night he would be stepping down from the role effectively immediately.

The Lions, who play bottom-side Old Collegians on Saturday, have struggled this season on-field, sitting eighth on the table with a two-win, nine-loss record.

Club president Dennis Bushell confirmed Condon had met with the club and decided it was best to step aside, with a playing-assistant coach set to take the reins for the remainder of the 2023 campaign.

"Tim Condon stood down as senior coach last night in the interest of the players and club," he said.

"His assistant, Kurt Lenehan will step in and coach the remainder of the season."

Condon signed at the club in November 2022, replacing Adam Matheson in the role after spending four years as an assistant coach at North Warrnambool Eagles under Adam Dowie in the Hampden league.

The highly-regarded south-west football figure previously played 300-plus Warrnambool and District league games with Panmure and coached the Bulldogs in 2018.

Condon told The Standard on Thursday morning the club and himself had a difference of opinion on where the club was heading on-field.

"It wasn't anything to do with the players or anything like that, it was more to do with the direction of the club and we just weren't aligned in that regard," he said.

"We had a discussion and it was obvious we were heading in different directions."

He said he still had a strong desire to continue senior coaching.

Lenehan, 32, who signed with the Lions in 2020 after a long career with Warrnambool in the Hampden league, has been one of the club's most dominant midfielders after crossing to the club and is highly-regarded as a coach in waiting.

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