JOE Gilbert is Buninyong’s coach no longer.
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Gilbert has stepped down from the Bombers’ helm, with the club to immediately seek a replacement over the next 10 days.
After two successive grand final defeats and six consecutive finals series, Gilbert has informed the club he will not continue in 2014.
Gilbert said there were a numbers of factors as to why he stood down and that it was difficult to pinpoint just one reason in particular.
He is yet to decide if he will remain at the club as a player in 2014.
“It was a really tough decision, there were a lot of things that played on my mind,” Gilbert said.
“It hasn’t got anything to do with us not winning one of the premierships, that probably did not have any impact.
“I’m proud of the nucleus of the players there, but there is still a lot of work needed to win a grand final.”
Until his resignation, Gilbert was the longest serving coach in the Central Highlands Football League.
Buninyong president Wayne Morgan paid homage to the man who had been at the helm of the club for eight years in total, including the past six seasons.
“He put so much passion and so much hard work into the position,” Morgan said.
“I’ve never seen anyone work so hard around a football club. The playing group that is together at the moment is all because of Joe’s hard work.”
Gilbert first donned the red and black in 2001, when he was recruited from Sebastopol by then coach Chris Maple.
Undoubtedly one of the league’s best players at his peak, he won the club’s best and fairest medals in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2007, as well as the Geoff Taylor Medal for CHFL best and fairest in 2005.
He started coaching in 2005 in a joint role with Adam Lawler, where the Bombers reached a semi-final, before taking on the role solo in 2006.
After a year away from coaching in 2007, Gilbert resumed as senior coach in 2008, at which point the Bombers made finals every year.
However, they failed to capitalise with a premiership.
Buninyong has lost the last two grand finals, while Gilbert also took the club to two preliminary finals and two elimination finals in the past six years.
Morgan said the club would advertise the senior coach position, as well as all other football and netball coaching positions, until the end of next week.
Applications close on Friday, October 4.
patrick.nolan@fairfaxmedia.com.au
![Joe Gilbert has resigned as Buninyong coach, but may stay on as a player in 2014. Joe Gilbert has resigned as Buninyong coach, but may stay on as a player in 2014.](/images/transform/v1/resize/frm/storypad-pSTt7Li9MUiRt65pBNTCKx/c676e17f-21e1-48b8-919c-c46382bac1cb.JPG/w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)