By Tara Murray
New Hume City Broncos men’s coach Matt Foster is hoping to bring some sustainable success to the to the side.
Foster, who is stepping in after Kelvin Bowers’ two and half years in the role, is hoping to emulate the success the club’s women’s program.
“Looking at the championship banners for the women’s side there are plenty, but not many from the men,” he said.
“We want to be a more competitive team. We’ll work with youth league side and hope be a bit more competitive.”
Foster comes to the Broncos from the Bulleen Boomers, where he coached their youth league men’s championship side.
He has been coaching in Victoria for the past four seasons, including being part of the Basketball Victoria National Intensive Training Program.
Foster said the opportunity to coach at state championship level was something that attracted him to the Hume City role.
“’I’ve heard from people that Broadmeadows is a supportive club and has a great structure in place,” he said.
“Their objectives match up with mine.
“I’m originally from Perth … I coached in the state league in Western Australia and a few different competitions.”
Foster said he didn’t know a lot about the Broncos’ side, apart from the normal observation of sides when he was with Bulleen.
He said the club was early in the process of talking to players about their intentions.
Lee Jeka, Shaun Prendergast and Anthony Scott are three who will be returning.
Among those not returning will former division most valuable player Mike Rose and Luke Egan.
Foster said they would look at kicking off training in coming weeks.
He said they would also be working on the off-court aspects of the club.
“One of the key parts is culture of the team,” he said. “We’ll be spending a lot of time in that area and will be helping with the junior programs.”
Broncos vice-president Glen Milner said they were thrilled to have Foster on board.
“Matt’s appointment was largely influenced by the clear vision and strategy he was able to offer to support a sustainable model for success involving our development pathways,” Milner said.
“He has well-established basketball networks which will also be important in achieving a style of play and consistency of competitive effort.
“I also want to pay tribute to Kelvin Bowers’ contribution to our Big V men’s program, which gained a level of respectability under his watch.”
