South Morang has moved quickly to appoint a new coach for the Northern Football League division 2 season.
The Lions announced that two-time premiership coach Gary Hall had made the decision to step down as coach.
Replacing him as coach will be Matthew Penn.
The Lions announced on Sunday that Penn would step into the role.
“Matt has an outstanding playing resume and more recently has been working with division 1 clubs in development and senior assistant roles,” the club said.
Penn was a senior assistant coach at Hurstbridge this the past three seasons and was a development coach at Bundoora between 2103-15.
He played in premierships at Bundoora and Seymour, having played at Northern Bullants and Northern Knights.
Penn was captain of the Knights in 1996 when they won the premiership.
The signing of Penn comes as an end of an era occurs at the club, with Hall stepping down.
Hall had been coach for the past nine years.
“We would like to thank Gary for his outstanding contribution to SMFNC over the past nine years in the role,” the club said on social media.
“The appreciates his commitment, leadership and guidance which delivered two senior premierships from four grand final appearances.
“We are grateful for the passion, energy and development that saw the club achieve promotion from division 3 to division 1 and the positive impact this had across the whole club.
“Gary is a well respected life member of SMFNC and we wish him all the best for his future endeavours.”
The Lions had one of its most successful periods under Hall.
After finally winning the division 3 premiership in 2022 after falling just short a number of times, the Lions made finals in their best season back in division 2.
Last year, the Lions broke through for its first ever division 2 premiership.
It meant the Lions were back in the top flight for the first time since 1980.
This season was a tough year in division 1 with a number of injuries and not much going right. The side finished with a 2-15 record to finish bottom and will be relegated back into division 2 next season.
