Louise Brown, Shane Smith to coach Mermaids and Seahawks in 2024

The Mermaids have been promoted to the top-grade for 2024 after back-to-back division one championships under retired mentor Lee Primmer.

The last time the side played in the championship was a one-season stint in 2019 which saw the club go win-less at the foot of the ladder.

Brown, a revered player and coach at the Mermaids who mentored the side that year, believes her team's fortunes will be better this time.

"I have no idea of what our playing roster's going to look like at the moment, that'll all probably come together over the next month or so but I definitely think we'll be competitive," she told The Standard.

"This happened to us back in 2019 and it was not a great season for the girls unfortunately, we got absolutely belted week-in week-out. But we have a much stronger group now and the championship division is not as strong as it was back in 2019.

"Just because of the NBL1 South it's taken a lot of the good players. Don't get me wrong the championship division's still a strong comp and it's stronger than what we've been playing in but I would definitely hope that we would be competitive at that level and hopefully the club will look at securing a female and a male import for both the Seahawks and the Mermaids next year."

Brown, who led the Mermaids to division one and two championships during her three-year coaching tenure between 2017-2019, is hoping to retain most of last year's squad, including grand final MVP Dakota Crichton who attends Warrnambool College.

The star veteran would love to see the side reach finals.

"You always set out to win but we just want to be competitive to begin with," she said.

"Definitely trying to put a floor on the team to finish in finals and I think that's a realistic goal for the group but I guess you just never know who the other teams are going to recruit, you don't know how strong their squads are going to be."

Brown is unsure at this stage whether she will take to the court next year after she was instrumental for the Mermaids off the bench during last year's finals.

Meanwhile, club stalwart Shane Smith is excited to take on the Seahawks' coaching role after the retirement of Alex Gynes.

The senior school director at Emmanuel College, who was a member of the Seahawks' inaugural side in 1989, was set to coach the 2020 season before it was cancelled.

He said the timing was ideal for him to juggle the role with his work commitments and is eagerly awaiting the challenge.

"The club's firing at the moment," he said.

"They've been really successful, strong junior program so very excited to take on the job."

Smith said he was keen to lead the team after missing out in 2020.

"I guess I'm a veteran of the club," he said.

"I was there in the first year they started and I've had a lot of links with the club over a long period of time.

"Since being back in Warrnambool I've done a lot with the juniors, watching their development and that sort of stuff. A lot of those kids are coming through the senior program now so really happy to support them in the next stage of their development which is obviously senior basketball.

"I guess that's one of the reasons why, I've done juniors for a while and now I'm ready to go."

The Seahawks finished fifth during this year's division one season after they were knocked out in the first round of finals.

Smith's aim is to "run the best program possible".

"Winning's great but Alex (Gynes) and Lee (Primmer) have done great jobs over the last couple of years really developing numbers, large groups wanting to play and be part of the program and it's borders (have) extended further when people from Hamilton and Portland and things like that are looking to come through and be part of the program as well," he said.

"It's more continuing to build those foundations to be a really successful club. We've got great culture, we've got great numbers and great support with the local community so it's more continuing that tradition."

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