PFNL 2018: Mandurah Mustangs part ways with coach Mat Aitchison

The first-year senior coach will no longer lead the club after the two parties came to the decision to split on the back of their 13^th consecutive loss on Saturday night, coming at the hands of reigning premiers Pinjarra.

More PFNL:

Aitchison said the decision was a mutual one, with he and the club sharing different views on how to progress forward to finals contention in future seasons.

“We were a bit divided in how we should progress as a club, so we both came to the decision that it’s best for us to go our separate ways,” he said.

“It’s unfortunate, and I’m sad it’s come to this, but if we’re not seeing eye-to-eye then it’s probably not doing either of us much good moving forward.

“I’m happy with the club’s response – it’s a mutual decision.”

In a statement released by the club, president Gavin Lehmann thanked Aitchison for his contribution to the Mustangs throughout 2018.

“I want to personally and on the behalf of the club thank Mat for his commitment, dedication, professional outlook and positives he has bought to the club,” the statement read.

“Due to numerous reasons this has not been as successful as we were all hoping and with differing opinions on how to rectify this moving forward it was decided to part ways.”

Aitchison’s campaign with the Mustangs opened with promise when they smashed Waroona by 122 points in round one, but it’s been a somber affair since with the club dropping it’s next 13 games and languishing at the bottom of the ladder.

Across that stretch Mandurah holds an average losing margin of 73.5 points, having suffered losses of 174  (round 13 v Centrals), 155 (round 12 v Baldivis), 101 (round 10 v South Mandurah) and 111 (round seven v Pinjarra).

George Costello will take over as the Mustangs’ interim league coach for the remainder of the 2018 season, with the club set to appoint someone new to the role for next year’s campaign.

Aitchison said his passion for coaching still burned strongly, and that he would look to take up an assistant’s role with a new club in the future.