Football
26 October, 2025
Thunder appoints coaching director
Southern Mallee Thunder has appointed a coaching director ahead of the 2026 season.
The club made the announcement last week on their socials, introducing Jake Bridges, from Ballarat, to their players and supporters.
It is the first time the club has officially appointed a person to the position, and president of the Thunder, Lucas Puckle, confirmed that Bridges would be working alongside the club's senior coaching team next season.
The coach has not been announced yet, with details still being finalised.
Bridges has a career in both football and leadership that spans 20 years.
He is a long-time facilitator with Leading Teams Australia, a company built around empowering people to achieve results through culture and leadership programs.
Around and on the field, Bridges has an impressive coaching and playing record, coming from coaching the Ballarat Football Netball League U23 Men's vs Hampden League.
He did a couple of years as assistant coach to Anthony Koutafidies, before taking the reins himself last season.
Bridges has previously coached the East Point Football Netball Club for several seasons, leading them to premierships in 2018 and 2019 and was awarded AFL Goldfields Coach of the Year in 2018.
"He's got a lot of experience, and will give us a different angle on the coaching side of things," Puckle said.
"He'll be working with our coach and a few others."
Despite Bridges' official role being with the seniors, Puckle said he is confident he will shine a light on the club in its entirety.
"We are hoping the juniors that train with our seniors, the reserves and seniors, that everyone will benefit from his expertise," added Puckle.
"We are hoping to develop our kids, so to get Jake with a lot of experience and a lot of professionalism, not that we haven't had that previously, will really help."
Bridges joins the club with his family - wife Kylie and children Luka (12), Gracie (11) and Clem (five).