Sport
9 October, 2023
21-year-old Kya Lanfranchi takes charge of Maryborough under 18s in next step for rebuild
With Maryborough Football Netball Club’s football re-building passage at a critical stage, their successful under 18s program will be taken over by Kya Lanfranchi next season, with the 21-year-old establishing himself as one of the youngest...
With Maryborough Football Netball Club’s football re-building passage at a critical stage, their successful under 18s program will be taken over by Kya Lanfranchi next season, with the 21-year-old establishing himself as one of the youngest coaches in the Bendigo Football Netball League.
The young defender takes over the role from Brady Neill, who is focusing on his young family, having guided the Magpies to their first under 18s finals win in years last month thanks to a win against Strathfieldsaye in the elimination final.
Now, with a great young talent base to pick from, an under 16s group which finished third in the senior competition as well as yielding four selections from the recent V-Line Cup in Archie Chadwick, Campbell Wood, Logan Howell and Zac Cicchini, the club has turned to Lanfranchi — last season’s assistant coach to the 18s — to help take the club’s youth to the next step.
Lanfranchi was “honoured” to take the role.
“I’m honoured to get the role. I’ve been at the club for a long time and I really wanted to help develop the youth coming through,” he said.
Lanfranchi said a big change in his attitude to football and, in particular, the junior side of the game helped him garner his passion for working together with the team for 2024.
“I think helping the young players helped me get back into loving football, it helped me mature and it’s improved my overall football too,” he said.
It’s an attitude that Lanfranchi is hoping to communicate to his charges throughout 2024, and he is a great believer in the amount of young talent the club boasts at the moment.
“I want to make it a place where the young guys want to come in every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, make them excited to be at the club, and also of course, help develop their football to be the best it can be, as well as make them better people,” he said.
“The talent is definitely there going forward, and it’s something to be excited about. We can be competitive in the league for the next five years.”
Lanfranchi has given a helping hand to Neill’s work over the last two seasons, which has seen the club re-establish their under 18 program. In the two years since, Maryborough has made the finals in 2022 and 2023, falling just short of a finals win in 2022, before their breakthrough semi-final appearance this year.
After seeing Neill’s hard work come to fruition, Lanfranchi is determined to carry on his legacy.
“With Brady stepping aside to focus on his family, I was on board to go again with the group,” he said.
“I have great relationships with the players from juniors to the under 18s, and it’s a passion to help coach these kids and get them through, and fingers crossed I’ll be playing with them over the next few years in the seniors.
“It’s great for the club to put faith in me as a 21-year-old to guide the next generation through.”
Lanfranchi is also excited at the thought of working with fellow coaches Coby Perry, Matt Johnston and Callum Rowe in integrating the young talent through to open-age football, in particular blooding more good talents into the senior team, while he also cites them as inspirations to learn from in his own fledgling coaching career.
“I’ve learned a lot off Coby and Matt, so I’ll implement that into my coaching style, as well as what I learned off Brady, while I also have a bit to add too, which is exciting,” he said.