Anytime Fitness - Coaches Corner - Meet the Stats Guru
Andrew Thomson
SHANE MELROSE - SENIOR ASSISTANT COACH - IT & PLAYER EDUCATION
Shane joined the Magpies last year as an Assistant Coach after a distinguished career with the University of Southern Queensland AFC at Toowoomba.
Such is the dedication of Shane that he travels from Toowoomba several times per week to be involved in coaching at QAFL level. He was rewarded for his coaching and dedication by being named as the Western Magpies 2016 Coach of the Year and presented the Russell Green Memorial Trophy at last year’s Presentation Night.
Shane has a coaching role in a football club that did not exist 5 years ago but is becoming essential if club's are to be successful in the modern era of football. He collects match and player statistics and then applies statistical analysis and video to assess player's strengths and weaknesses and conveys that information to senior coach Brydan Morgan so that players can learn and improve their game, work on identified weakness and develop into better players. And this can only help the team overall.
Shane grew up in Melbourne but has played most of his football in Brisbane and Toowoomba as a midfielder/small forward and he played for USQ Cougars for 15 years before x2 ACL reconstructions ended his playing career.
He then began coaching and has coached at various levels for USQ in the Darling Downs AFL for 15 years. He has coached at Firsts, Reserves and Colts levels and coached USQ Colts and Reserves to premierships and Seniors to several Grand Finals and was Assistant-Coach in two USQ Senior premierships.
He was the first Darling Downs coach to be appointed to the coaching panel for South Queensland for their annual clash with North Queensland, being Assistant Coach in 2015.
He joined the coaching staff of the Western Magpies in 2016 and has thoroughly enjoyed his time with the Pies.
He believes that with the new software being implemented on game days to gather statistics and monitor players that this information will be a valuable tool in educating the players and assisting Brydan Morgan to implement the team's game plan more effectively.