By Callum Ludwig
Healesville has secured the services of Ryan Webster in the role of Senior Football coach for the 2023 season.
Webster joins the Bloods having coached EFL Division 2 side Mulgrave for the last two seasons, with the 2020 season abandoned. He was introduced to the playing group and other club personnel on Wednesday 28 September.
Webster said he had been impressed by the way the club handles themselves in the dealings he has had with them.
“Over the previous two years, I’ve thought of some things that could improve the footy club and the timing has worked out now that I can get involved,” he said.
“The best thing about meeting everyone was the enthusiasm and the excitement in the room, from both players, supporters and the committee. It was a really great sight to see.”
Webster introduced himself and what he is all about, including where he has come and his thoughts on how he can develop the relatively young Healesville list and football club at the meeting.
Webster said he wants to find a foundation point for building a strong relationship with the playing group.
“We talked about finding a balance between the way that everyone lives these days, with Covid, family, working from home and training commitments. It’s a privilege for me as a football coach to be able to come to such a strong community-based, well-supported football club,” he said.
“I’ve been lucky to be able to have some great experience across a broad range of football competitions, which I think holds me in good stead as to how different competitions play and the different styles I can bring from those competitions and how I think that’s going to work well.”
Webster has also been senior assistant to former AFL player and coach Guy McKenna at Beaumaris AFC for the three years prior to taking on the Mulgrave position, as well as multiple years as Senior Assistant Coach at both the Northern Bullants and Sandringham in the VFL.
Webster said being able to build and nurture the young Healesville side is what he’s most excited about.
“My previous background in high-performance player development has been all about working with younger athletes and giving them a development path and teaching them the skills they need to learn to be able to grow themselves and be accountable to themselves in their own time,” he said.
“They’ve already got some really exciting aspects to the way they play footy, and for me, it just requires putting a little bit more structure and strategy around it. Their ability to take the game on, take some risks and play some pretty fast footy has been great. I’m just going to be able to put a little bit more structure around that and how to defend a little bit quicker on transition which will hold us in good stead going into this coming season.”
Webster has also held numerous coaching appointments in cricket including being the High Performance Manager for Cricket Victoria from 2014 to 2019, Box Hill CC Head Coach and 1st XI Captain from 2019 to 2021 and for the past two years has been the Senior XI coach at Yarra Valley Grammar.
Webster said the family-orientated community of the Healesville Football Netball Club are really important to him.
“My whole family are essentially life members at my home club East Perth in the WAFL and I understand how important small communities are and the family aspect of the strong foundation at a Football Club. Healesville has all of that,” he said.
“Hopefully I can leave a little bit of a legacy in my time at Healesville that will sit well with both the playing group and the supporters. I’ve got family in Healesville already and live a short drive away in Lilydale and I look forward to growing that connection over the next few seasons at the club.”
Healesville finished fifth in Outer East’s Division One this season, missing out on a finals spot by one win.
