By David Nagel
Sticking steadfastly to a procedure that it believes will hold it in good stead was the first contributing factor in Nar Nar Goon and its 2024 senior premiership coach Justin Stanton parting ways.
The local footy world was shocked last week after Stanton was no longer coach of the club, just six days after its celebrated grand final victory over Phillip Island.
As premiership celebrations begun to settle down, Stanton approached President Patrick Noonan and the club’s football department and advised them he would not be seeking a new contract; instead preferring to explore the next exciting challenge of his coaching career.
The Goon, still scarred by the unpleasant departure of its previous coach Luke Young, was reticent to commit to Stanton for the 2025 season until a full end-of-season review had been conducted.
Stanton, a career coach, was craving more certainty, but the hierarchy at the Goon was standing firm.
“We congratulate Justin on his two years and we thank him for his work ethic and what he has done for the club,” Noonan said.
“Justin came to us in early-August and asked us for our position, but we had already made up our mind up that we were not going to perform a review until after our finals campaign was done.
“We asked Justin to concentrate on our finals campaign and told him that he had our full support until the season was complete.
“It’s only natural that our decision to hold off talks with Justin until after the season had finished would cause some angst, but we tried to make it so that it was nobody else’s business except the football department and Justin.
“We worked very hard to keep everything to a minimum, any conversation, other than concentrating on our finals campaign.
“It’s full credit to Justin, and to the football department at the club, that we were able to finish off the season as we did.”
Rumours of a rift between Nar Nar Goon and Stanton had been circulating for some time.
It’s understood that the angst caused by talks being put on hold were exacerbated even further after Stanton delivered a fearful spray after the Goon’s round-15 loss to Tooradin-Dalmore; that was not received well by some club insiders.
The Goon would remain undefeated from that point in the season; going on a seven-game winning streak that ended with this year’s flag.
Stanton refuted suggestions that he had engaged in talks or signed on with a new club for 2025 while engaging in his quest for a premiership at Nar Nar Goon.
“I’ve had that many offers from clubs that it’s not funny, and I told them I appreciated the interest but we’ve got a finals campaign coming up and I’m not looking at anything at this stage,” Stanton explained.
“I told them I just want to get Nar Nar Goon through and I want us to win a premiership.
“I loved my two years at Nar Nar Goon but I feel it’s the right time to pass the baton on and let a new coach control the destiny of this playing group.
“A new voice can set new challenges for next year and beyond and I feel it’s the right time to make that happen.”
Stanton said he understood the timing of his decision may be confusing to many, but was simply acting on a gut feel after the previous experiences of those close to him.
“There are three or four people that are very close to me, including two of my brothers, that have looked back in hindsight and thought they should have moved on after their premiership wins,” he said.
“That’s been at the forefront of my mind, because people I respect greatly have made that mistake before and I’m in the privileged position of being able to learn from those mistakes.
“And I love the romance of leaving the club at the top and passing it on to the next coach in a great position moving forward,
“I’ve loved my two years at Nar Nar Goon but it just feels like the perfect time to move on.”
Stanton leaves Spencer Street after a one-point preliminary final loss in 2023 and Nar Nar Goon’s first senior premiership since 2010.
He departs after 43 games, with the impressive record of 34 wins, eight losses and one draw.
The Goon played seven finals games under Stanton; with the outstanding record of six wins and one loss; which was by a point to Phillip Island in last year’s preliminary final.
Noonan said Nar Nar Goon was close to making an announcement on Stanton’s successor.
“The football department is going full-steam ahead and we can expect an announcement shortly,” Noonan said.
“We’ve had some very good candidates contact us and we won’t be mucking around; we’ll be making a full announcement on our coaching structure in the near future.”
Noonan did confirm that Stanton had been asked not to attend the club’s presentation night at Gumbuya World on Friday 20 September.
