By Phil Edwards, The Examiner
Launceston coach Sam Lonergan said it was a relief that his 10-month Essendon supplements ban from football is finally over as he returned to take training with the club this week for the first time in a year.
The 29-year-old resumed his role with the Blues and said the imposition of the ban had been a difficult time having to step aside after spending three months working with the playing group, building relationships and bonding during last year’s pre-season.
“It is a good relief – when it first happened it was hard to work with and hard to deal with,” Lonergan said.
“So seeing the back end of it is a pretty good feeling and result.”
The Court or Arbitration for Sport ruling entailed a complete no contact ban from football for Lonergan.
“It was pretty straightforward with what I was and wasn’t allowed to do but over that 10-month period there were some difficult components personally to deal with,” he said.
“Probably the thing for me was that throughout those 10 months I was able to keep in pretty good physical shape and have come back lighter and haven’t put on any weight.
“For me it is the repetition of the body movement that footy does. I am mentally ready to go again which was a positive thing and that’s what I really wanted to hope for at this stage which was to get back here – I knew the coaching component and the passion for that wasn’t going to go anywhere.”
Lonergan said he never held any doubts or hesitation about returning to the club after the ban ended and lauded the efforts of his stand-in replacement Chris Hills for the work he did in his absence.
“It was more a process that was really hard to navigate.
“When I left Chris (and Deb Hills and their young son Noah) did a great job did a fantastic job just leading the football club so for me it was a matter of just stepping aside out of respect so Chris could have control of the group.
“In my mind I was always going to come back to Launceston we just had to go through the right channels.
“And abide by the right set of rules of what I could and couldn’t do to get there so that was the most frustrating part of that.
“We’ve had a really good week on the track and some really good numbers turn up and most of our list from last year is still there so the footy club will continue to lay a really strong foundation and look to play some consistent football next year.”
Lonergan said it had been a bonus for the club getting TSL games into some of their younger players during the 2016 season.
“The Lonnie Footy Club has a really strong group of kids coming through and for those guys to get that experience and opportunity is only going to be beneficial for our club this year and next year.
“I think we will be solid – it will be up to the players how far we push it and no restriction or roof on next season – they will certainly have all the right tools and all the right support to go as far as into the finals and it is up to the players how much they are willing to engage and take onboard throughout the year.”