2025 VFL Coaching Panel Announced

03/04/2025

The 2025 VFL season is now well and truly underway, and we are pleased to confirm our coaching panel for the rest of the year. 

Brendon Goddard will enter his first season as Senior Coach of the club with some strong support behind him, including assistant coaches Lenny Hayes, Damian Carroll, and Andy Farral. Tom Laumets will return to the club as the Head of Strength and Conditioning, as will CJ Bezzant as the Head of Football Analytics. 

Senior Coach - Brendon Goddard 

Following a decorated 334-game career as a player with both St Kilda and Essendon, Goddard takes the next step in his coaching career as he begins his first season as Head Coach with Sandringham. Goddard has spent the past two seasons supporting the Saints' young crop of players as a development coach, a position he will continue in alongside having the top job with the Zebras.

Assistant Coaches 

Lenny Hayes 

A former teammate of Goddard's for 10 years with the Saints, Hayes is back for another year at the Zebras. After 297 games of his own for St Kilda, Hayes hung up his boots at the end of 2014, and quickly took up an assistant coaching role with the GWS Giants at the end of 2015. Hayes was part of the coaching staff that guided the Giants to the 2019 Grand Final, before he departed a year later and returned to the Saints in 2022. 

Damian Carroll

The Head of Development and Learning with the Saints, Carroll will also return to the Zebras for 2025. A career that has taken him from a premiership coach with the Box Hill Hawks in 2013, to development roles with Hawthorn, Collingwood and now the Saints, Carroll will be another respected figure at Sandringham this year. 

Andy Farrall

Since arriving at Sandringham in 2021, Farrall has been a valuable member of the club, and will be another familiar voice in 2025. A previous winner of the ‘Eric Mackenzie Memorial Trophy’ for the Best Club Person, Farrall will be an assistant for both our men's and women's programs this year. 

Head of Strength and Conditioning - Tom Laumets 

Formerly a player with Sandringham, Laumets has been driving standards for the next generation of Zebras as our strength and conditioning coach since 2020, and will continue in the role for 2025. 

Head of Football Analytics - CJ Bezzant 

Returning for a third year at Sandringham, Bezzant will once again be at the head of analytics for 2025. Like Farrall, Bezzant will perform this role for both our men's and women's programs. 

Written by Jake Beddard - Sandringham FC