Jake Laskey to succeed Alex Russell at St Pats, Swans re-sign Ned Hyland

Ned Hyland will return for a fifth year in charge of the Swans, while Alex Russell will share the Saints’ top job with star forward Jake Laskey as the latter prepares to take the reins in 2020.

“I’ll stay on as as assistant coach, we’ll effectively just swap roles,” Russell said.

“I can’t imagine myself leaving St Pats now for the rest of my career, so if you get the a chance to develop more players on your list to become coaches and you’ve got more coaches around the club it can only be beneficial.

“Hopefully this is the right pathway to get the best out of our group and our players.”

Hyland said the switch from NEFU to NTFA had kept him feeling fresh in the role. 

“We’ve pretty well got commitment out of our current playing group, so we’ll look to keep a majority of our players and build upon where we’re already at,” Hyland said.