Gold Coast Football Club has appointed Guy McKenna as its inaugural AFL coach.
McKenna, who backed himself for the role by committing to the development years of GCFC, has been rewarded with an extended contract through to 2012.

He will lead the team into its inaugural AFL season in 2011 after coaching the club in the TAC Cup this year and the VFL competition next year.

Gold Coast Football Club Chairman John Witheriff said McKenna had exceeded expectations during the year and was prepared to put his highly regarded reputation on the line for the opportunity to be the Gold Coast’s first senior coach.

“Guy’s credentials are impeccable - as a champion player, a coach and as a person – he represents everything the Gold Coast Football Club stands for,” he said.

“He showed an enormous amount of courage late last year to move his family up to the Gold Coast without any guarantees of being appointed beyond 2010. He has certainly embraced the Gold Coast quickly fitting into the local community. The local football community will be very pleased with this appointment.”

GCFC CEO Travis Auld said the Gold Coast AFL team is a very attractive proposition for a coach, but also very challenging.

“Guy has led the charge and accepted the challenge with great enthusiasm. His strong leadership attributes and personal values will shape and build the culture of this new club.

“The Board and the Staff of the Gold Coast Football Club couldn’t be happier with his appointment and having him lead us into our first AFL season in 2011.”

McKenna said he was confident he would get the Gold Coast coaching job after backing himself in the development role after leaving Collingwood last year.

“I was more than prepared to do the time to prove myself, which ultimately you have to do as a senior coach and an assistant coach to get the opportunity,” he said.

“I believed in the way I work, the way I communicate and how I see the game, it was going to be enough to secure the job. It’s the opportunity of a lifetime to build this club over two years and get the team right before entering the AFL competition.

“There are many challenges but I think they are all good ones. We can make very educated and logical decisions which some of the other start up Clubs did not have the ability to do.

“With the rules and how the club is being set up I can certainly promise an exciting brand of football for our supporters. We are going to have a significant amount of young developing talent. Physically we will be fighting out of our weight division, technically we are going to be able to handle ourselves in some games but we will definitely be competitive. As the talent comes in from around Australia, it is only going to improve our execution and we will just get better every game.”

McKenna played 267 games for West Coast Eagles, was Club Captain and a key member of the club’s two premierships. He won West Coast’s Best & Fairest Award twice and is a four time All Australian. He retired in 2000 and spent two years as an assistant coach at West Coast before coaching WAFL club Claremont in 2003. He was assistant coach at Collingwood under Mick Malthouse for five years and was inducted into the AFL Football Hall of Fame this year.