Sweet wins GFL coaching job for annual country championships

The Goldfields Football League’s search for a coach for this year’s Nutrien Ag country championships in Perth ended this week with the appointment of Boulder premiership mentor Aaron Sweet.

He moves into the role vacated by dual Mitchell medallist Rob Hansen, who stepped aside after leading the GFL to last year’s division two championship — highlighted by a 15-point win over Great Northern in the final.

Sweet takes on his latest challenge after guiding Boulder to a dramatic two-point win over Railways in last year’s GFL grand final.

He stood down in the off-season because of family and business commitments after ending a long wait for a flag after his teams lost the 2019, 2021 and 2022 grand finals.

Sweet arrived in the Goldfields after a 100-game career with East Perth in the WAFL that included 29 disposals in a losing effort against West Perth in the 2013 grand final.

The 2024 Nutrien Ag carnival is on July 13 and 14, with the GFL returning to division one after winning all five games last year.

Goldfields last claimed division one honours in 1992 with a team coached by former Claremont, Perth and Footscray winger Allen Daniels that trounced Eastern Districts in the A-section final by 65 points at Subiaco Oval.

That match was played as the curtain-raiser to an AFL clash between West Coast and Sydney and represented the first and only time the GFL has won WA regional football’s top crown.

That success occurred after the GFL were division one runners-up in 1988 and 1991.

However, a disappointing 1993 campaign resulted in the GFL being absent for the next nine years.

Goldfields lost successive B-section finals in 2002-03 but were crowned division champions in 2004.

They followed up with back-to-back B-section titles in 2007-08 under Tom Briggs.