Thomas appointed Central District coach

By ZAC MILBANK

Central District premiership captain Paul Thomas will continue his long-standing involvement with the club as its senior coach for the 2021 Statewide Super League season.

After spending five years in a variety of coaching roles with Adelaide’s SANFL team, the 38-year-old returned to act as an assistant coach at Elizabeth this year in the wake of his departure from West Lakes.

The six-time Bulldogs premiership utility said he was determined to extract the best from the current playing group at X Convenience Oval, having been encouraged with what he’s seen in 2020.

”The very fabric of our football club came under the banner ‘Yield to None – We Never Surrender’ and we saw that with our playing group all year,” said Thomas, who will act in a part-time capacity while heading up AFL Max’s new High Performance Program.

”And I’m really looking forward to working with that fabric for the next period of time. The club is the very foundation of a lot of what I have achieved as a person and I’m really determined to be involved in a capacity as senior coach to maximise the potential which sits within the footy club.”

A Magarey Medallist in 2004, Thomas won two Norm Russell Medals as Central’s best-and-fairest in 2004 and 2009.

The four-time premiership captain played 269 League games for the Bulldogs from 2001 until 2015, forging a reputation as one of the club’s most consistent players while sporting the No.16 guernsey.