A difference of opinions has seen Victorian Sub-district Cricket Association side Roxburgh Park Broadmeadows and grand final captain-coach Mitch Johnstone part ways.
The club released a statement on Wednesday night saying Johnstone would no longer coach the side, with Johnstone speaking with a sub-district side with premier cricket ambitions about a possible job.
While Falcons were already looking at the possibility of life without Johnstone, who is in the running fot the coaching job at Premier club Greenvale, it’s Johnstone’s decision to speak to the fellow sub-district club which saw the two parties have differing views.
Falcons president Ben Wood said the news that there could be an expansion to premier cricket in the 2016-17 season which saw everything change.
“For about a week and a half, Werribee has been talking to him,” Wood told the Star Weekly.
“Mitch disclosed this to us and they were offering him the chance to be the club’s first premier coach in 2016-17.
“That was contrary to what I had heard about premier cricket and the possibility of Werribee being in the competition.
“I asked Mitch to speak to as many people possible to find out whether it was actually a possibility.
“He got a fair bit of evidence saying it was.”
While Wood had recommended Johnstone for the Greenvale job which is expected to be announced in the coming days, the fact Werribee is a sub-district cricket side has becoming the sticking point between the two parties.
“Our agreement was he could explore premier options and the question we say is where is Werribee playing next season?
“The last 96 hours Mitch and the club have been speaking and I offered him a five-year deal with the club which would still give him the licence to look at premier roles as long as he ceased talks with Werribee.
“The deadline was given of last night before a meeting Mitch had set down for Thursday, as we said you aren’t walking into an interview for a job with a [VSDCA] club having a job with us.
“Mitch decided he still wanted to explore the Werribee role.”
Wood, who believes Johnstone is the best captain-coach in sub-district cricket, said both parties are looking out for their best interests.
“Mitch has been honest with the club. He believes it fits in with his premier ambitions and he is a career coach and we understand that, but we need to put the club first.
“We didn’t want to run the risk of them [Werribee] releasing a statement about it while he is still employed with us.”
Wood said the club was likely to announce a new coach in the coming weeks.
“We are a long way down the path in appointing a new coach.
“The Werribee job has blinded the situation, but Mitch was already on the radars of Greenvale, so we have been working together on possible coaches.
“We have been helping Mitch with his Greenvale application and he has been helping us look at coaches.
“We have a couple of people really interested and will be in a position to pull the trigger in the next week or so.”
