SUANFC is excited to announce our Premier Teams Head Coaches for the 2022 Season. At the helm of the Womens Premier Division team, we welcome back Yucel Celenk, and stepping up to the Men’s Premier Division Head Coach role we are excited to welcome Lindsay Scown.
Celenk stepped back into the Women’s Premier Division Head Coach role ahead of the 2021 season, having previously coached the side from 2013-2017. With over 5 years AFL coaching experience, as well as high performance coaching experience in Soccer, Celenk continues to bring professionalism, knowledge, and an eagerness to see his players continue to learn and grow to the Women’s Premier Division side. With the 2021 Season unfortunately being cut short, we are excited to see Celenk back in action in his Head Coach role and see what the Women’s Premier Division side can achieve in 2022.
Lindsay Scown, who joined SUANFC ahead of the 2020 Season in the role of NEAFL Senior Assistant Coach before transitioning into the role of Senior Assistant Coach in the Men’s Premier Division team following the cancellation of the NEAFL competition, is already an extremely well known and respected figure and coach around the club and has lived and breathed AFL for most of his life.
Hailing from Victoria, Scown had a successful playing career in the Geelong Football League (GFL), captaining his team, winning Best & Fairest Medals and playing in the GFL representative team. Scown is no stranger to the Sydney AFL landscape either, having played in the Premier Division, coached two Men’s Premier Division sides and been part of the AFL Sydney Representative team coaching team since making the move to Sydney.
For the past two years, Scown has been an integral member of the Men’s Premier Division Senior Coaching team, assisting Head Coach Tom Morrison in leading the team to Premiership success in 2020. The club is excited to see Scown make the natural progression from Senior Assistant Coach to Head Coach, and we are looking forward to seeing the success the team can achieve in the 2022 Season under the watchful, extremely experienced, and knowledgeable eye of Scown.
SUANFC would also like to thank Tom Morrison, who is stepping down from the Head Coach role to pursue further coaching opportunities. Tom has become a club stalwart since coming to SUANFC in 2013 and taking on the role of Senior Development and Premier Division Coach, building the reputation of being extremely knowledgeable, passionate and dedicated in his coaching and always going above and beyond for the athletes, coaching team and the club. Morrison led the SUANFC NEAFL team from 2017 until the competition’s cancellation in 2020, when he stepped into Men’s Premier Division coaching role once again, and led the team to a historic 28 year drought breaking Premiership. While not in a formal coaching role, Morrison will no doubt continue to be seen around the club regularly, and the club wishes him all the best as he takes on new challenges in his coaching.
Both Scown and Celenk have hit the ground running already with pre-season training having started late November, and the club cannot wait to see what our two top teams can achieve heading into 2022 under the leadership of such knowledgeable, passionate, and driven coaches.
SUANFC is currently finalising all other coaching appointments ahead of the 2022 season, with further announcement to be made over the coming weeks. No doubt 2022 will be a big year for SUANFC, and we cannot wait!