Former premiership coach Peter Bugden will return to the NFNL after signing on to be the senior men’s coach of the Thomastown Football Netball Club in 2023.
After a four year break from coaching, Bugden will lead the Bears in next year’s MC Labour Division 2 season.
This will be Bugden’s second stint in the NFNL. He was coach of Whittlesea between 2008 and 2013, leading the Eagles to a Division 2 grand final in 2009 before going one further in 2010 to help the club claim their first ever league premiership.
He would achieve the same feat in 2013, in what would prove to be his final year at the club, helping Whittlesea return to the topflight with another Division 2 flag.
In 2014, Bugden went across to the EDFL and was senior coach of Cragieburn until 2018. In that time, he took the club to two further grand finals which included Division 1 premiership success in 2016.
Thomastown parted ways with Mario Bandera midway through the 2022 season, with Daniel Bramich taking over as player-coach for the remainder of the campaign.
After a slow start, the Bears rallied in the second half of the year to sneak into the top five before falling short against Diamond Creek in the elimination final.
A club statement read:
Peter comes to us refreshed, motivated and brings a wealth of knowledge and experience.
His excitement and enthusiasm by our playing list and his vision for success in the not too distant future, are some of the key factors for his appointment.
More importantly than all of this, is the respect Peter has amongst the football community in the NFNL and EDFL.
We would like to officially welcome Peter as the Senior Coach of Thomastown. We also extend this warm welcome to his wife Jennifer. Welcome to the Thomastown family.
