SOUTHPORT has rewarded coach Steve Daniel for its remarkable debut VFL season with a two-year contract extension.
Daniel, the Sharks’ 2018 NEAFL premiership coach, already held a contract for 2022, but has signed a new deal taking him through to the end of 2024.
He crossed from the Gold Coast Suns to Fankhauser Reserve after a disappointing 2017 season in which the Sharks finished ninth of 10 teams with just four victories and immediately made a difference, winning 12 of 18 games to win the minor premiership before thrashing Sydney by 55 points in the Grand Final.
They backed it up with an improved 13-5 season in their bid for back-to-back titles in 2019, only to run into a rampaging Brisbane Lions, losing the decider by 76 points to an undefeated and unchallenged opponent.
After losing the 2020 season to COVID and having the NEAFL disbanded, Southport joined five other northern clubs in the VFL this season and made a splash from round one when it overturned a 31-point third-quarter deficit to beat Carlton at Ikon Park before finishing second with an impressive 9-1 record, including four wins by more than 100 points.
"It's terrific, I'm rapt the Southport Sharks have shown some consistency and given me another two years on top of what I've already had," Daniel told the Southport website.
"It was a big decision at the time to leave the Gold Coast Suns and come across to Southport, but (to win a premiership) in your first year you're rapt with your decision.
"I didn't second guess myself at all and it is a terrific club, a great culture and there are great people around the club … hence why it has been great to sign for another two years on top of next year that I already had.
"(2021) has been a frustrating year, and probably all (22) clubs are going to say that as well, but for us it has been terrific – we can only do what we can do, and to win the games we had to win and travel when we had to travel … has been great.
"(It was) probably a bit disappointing, (because) we were looking to play a few of the standalone VFL clubs and we never got to play them – it just kept going on and on, but you have to move with the times – we were still lucky enough to play and I respect the VFL for trying to get a result."
Twitter: @BRhodesVFL
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