CRAIG THOMAS NAMED WAFL COLTS COACH OF THE YEAR

THE West Perth Football Club is delighted to announce that Craig Thomas has been named the WAFL Colts Coach of the Year for 2015.

Thomas has now been colts coach at West Perth since 2011 and has done a tremendous job producing and developing talent to go on to play in the AFL or quality league WAFL football.

Now not only has Thomas continued to coach an exciting group that has a host of players destined for higher honours in it in 2015, but he has also led West Perth's colts back into the finals breaking a significant September drought.

West Perth has finished the 2015 season in fifth position on the ladder and will now take on East Fremantle in an elimination final at HBF Arena on Sunday in between the reserves and league contests also featuring the Falcons at Joondalup.

Thomas has now been recognised both for his ability to nurture and develop talented players for the future, and by leading West Perth back into the finals in the colts by being named Coach of the Year.

Back in 2011 when Thomas began as colts coach at the Falcons, his team included league premiership players Laine Rasmussen, Shane Nelson and Nick Rodda, AFL draftees Brad Hill and Jordan Lockyer, and current West Perth senior players Mitch van Berlo, Brayden Antonio, Corey Chalmers, Drew Rohde, Aidan Lynch and Tim Sutherland. 

West Perth also had three representatives on the Colts Team of the Year with Josh Rotham named at centre half-back, Mitch Antonio on the half-forward flank and Clint Hinchcliffe on the ball. Hinchcliffe also polled 33 votes in the Jack Clarke Medal voting to finish nine behind the winner, East Perth's Stan Wright.

There has continued to be exciting players coming through under Thomas in all of his five seasons in charge of the colts now.

West Perth President paid tribute to work that Thomas has done with the colts group over the last five years now culminating in a finals appearance, and his award as Coach of the Year.

"I want to congratulate Craig on winning the Colts Coach of the Year award. This is a well-deserved award and acknowledges the hard work and commitment that he has made to football and of course West Perth," Raponi said.

"The football and development relationship that Craig has with our senior coach is very pleasing to witness. I believe we would be the envy of all other WAFL clubs in this area.

"The continuing flow of colts players to league ranks is something that we are all proud and this award in my eyes is recognition of that as much as the season the colts have had in 2015."

Bill Monaghan is West Perth's longest-serving league coach in the club's rich history and has admired the work Thomas has done with the colts group for five years now to deserve the honour as Coach of the Year for 2015.

"Thommo has done a wonderful job and clearly here our process has been about the development of our players across all grades, and he has been a huge part of that," Monaghan said.

"He has done what all good development coaches should do and put the player ahead of himself and I think he is a big part in the number of kids we have flowing through our system who are playing quality league footy.

"They run a great program in the colts and he heads that, he has great staff and the players this year have played some really good footy under that. We've been able to promote a few of them to play reserves footy and I expect a number of them will play league footy next year."