Royals appoint new League coachFriday, October 16, 2015 - 10:18 AM

East Perth has appointed West Coast development coach Jaymie Graham as its league coach after Brian Dawson decided not to seek reappointment for the 2016 season.

Dawson has coached the league team to three consecutive seasons of finals action and will remain involved at East Perth while maintaining his busy schedule as a full-time Professor in Exercise Physiology and Biochemistry at the School of Sport Science, Exercise and Health at the University of Western Australia.

Graham, a former Eagles player and St Kilda development coach, joined the West Coast coaching staff in 2014 after spending two years working under Scott Watters at St Kilda.

He played 37 matches with the Eagles across four seasons including 24 in 2006.

Highly regarded as a versatile big man, he continued to play beyond his retirement from the AFL at the end of 2008, but his career ended with a horrific leg injury while captaining South Fremantle in the WAFL in 2011.

Club president Bronte Howson paid tribute to both Jaymie and Brian.

“When we approached Brian in late 2012 we were looking to find somebody of the calibre of his predecessor, Tony Micale, and we certainly made the right selection,” said Mr Howson.

“Brian gave us a three year commitment and has honoured that. He has been fantastic for our club and has built a wonderful rapport with the playing squad. We are delighted that he is staying with the Club,” he said.

“Jaymie Graham has worked across both the Eagles and East Perth squads in 2014 and 2015. He understands the successful balance involved in the Club’s partnership with West Coast and this is a great opportunity for him to take his coaching career to the next level.”

Graham said he was looking forward to the challenge of taking on the role of senior coach at East Perth and further galvanising the alignment between the Royals and West Coast.

“This is a great opportunity and I’m really looking forward to working closely with the players at East Perth as well as the young Eagles players,” he said.

“Over the last couple of years we have built some strong relationships with the East Perth players and my focus will be around developing the whole squad.

“We are in this competition to win games and to do that we need to develop the talent from the East Perth zone, as well as the AFL-listed players.

“It’s great that Daws will still be involved. We will be working together, with the coaching group, to get the best out of this squad with the aim of improving on what we achieved in 2015.”