Outgoing Panmure senior coach Chris Bant says he walks away from the role comfortable the club is well-placed for sustained success.
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The Bulldogs are searching for a new leader for the 2024 Warrnambool and District league season after the beloved veteran informed his players and the club's supporters he would not continue as coach after the first semi-final loss to Kolora-Noorat.
Bant has held the top job since 2019 and lifted the Bulldogs to a grand final appearance in 2022 and says he is proud of playing a part in the club's resurgence from "cellar-dweller" to a league powerhouse.
"It's been a great five years, I've enjoyed it, we've come from the bottom of the ladder to playing in the grand final last year and third this year before finals," he said.
"The club's in a really good spot moving forward I reckon, we've come a long way to becoming a pretty competitive, good side every year from where they were five years ago.
"There's been a lot of really good people along the way who've helped turn the club around.
"Five years ago no one was even training, we won one game for the whole year, it wasn't good I guess and the attitude changed and they backed me in.
"We got to work and managed to turn it around from a cellar-dweller to a grand final side. We managed to play finals in all five years as coach, so it's been great work from everyone involved at the club to do that."
He added he was likely to continue in a playing-capacity and help around the Bulldogs as they look towards the future.
"I'll be around the club and probably play if there's a spot for me, I'm happy to play twos if they recruit well which I'm sure the club will. I'm pretty happy to hang around and help with the transition," he said.
After going down narrowly in both the qualifying final against Nirranda and against the Power on Sunday, Bant said it was an indication of how close the competition was and why it wouldn't take much for Panmure to bounce back next season.
"The competition is close, last week we went down by pretty much a goal (to Nirranda) and bang, our season is now over eight days later," he said.
"That's how close it is and it doesn't take many to turn it around. We're confident with we're the club is at."
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Nick Creely
Sports reporter with The Standard
Sports reporter with The Standard
