A FORMER Hampden Football Netball League Division 3 premiership coach is set to return to the Hamilton Kangaroos, taking on the top netball role in 2025.

Jarryd Anton returns to the club as Open netball coach for 2025, after relocating back to the region.

“I moved back home with my partner at the start of this year and Bec and Renae got ahold of me pretty quickly,” Anton told The Spectator.

“At that point I was committed to Portarlington, travelled down and back during the season.

“There was constant communication, and for a small portion of the season I thought I may have been back in Geelong, but the last month has been when the hard questions have been asked and I signed on.”

Former coach, Emma Sommerville, will stay involved as an assistant coach, while also being able to focus on playing week-to-week, supporting Anton in a pursuit of a return to finals.

“We definitely have Emma locked in for 2025, she will be my assistant coach and I am really excited to work alongside her this year,” Anton said.

“This will allow her to really focus on her playing element, and it will be really exciting for her to take a step back and flourish.

“Improving on the ladder is really important, but our main objective is to get back into that finals space.

“In 2023 they played finals, we finished really strong this year and we will be looking to push for finals in 2025.”

Having spent five years away, Anton found himself at Portarlington, where he coached the A grade side in 2023 and 2024.

That role helped expand Anton’s coaching skillset, with a return to the Hampden Football Netball League set to put those skills to the test in 2025.

“I needed a change when I left Hamilton, my plans were always to move away and committing to Hamilton and working my way up in 2020 wasn’t going to be achievable,” he said.

“I headed down to Portarlington and that is an incredible league to be involved in … it really extended my coaching skills and I think I will return to the Roos in 2025 as a very different coach to when I left.”

While coaching the Roos’ Division 3 side to back-to-back premierships in 2018 and 2019, Anton also guided the 15-and-Under side to a grand final win in 2019.

Having that junior experience will hold him good stead, with plenty of juniors getting court time during the Kangaroos’ 2024 Open campaign.

“I think we have got some incredible juniors and this year was really about getting them experience, a lot of the girls that I coached in juniors are now senior netballers and it will be really nice to work with them again,” he said.

“I think it will be a really exciting time to really push our junior girls and unlock some potential within the group.”

With the off-season still in full swing, Anton won’t be resting on his laurels, with the club set to be aggressive in pursuit of recruits for the 2025 season.

“We have sat down and put down a really extensive list of potential recruits,” he said.

“We are looking to build the strongest team possible and putting the strongest netballers in at a Hamilton Kangaroos level, so we will be recruiting hard.

“If you put strong netballers around junior netballers, their skills will improve.”

Anton won’t have much time to get everything sorted, with the club locked in to start pre-season training in less than a month.

The club’s first pre-season training session is set for November 6, with junior trials scheduled for Nov 13 and 14.

Hamilton Kangaroos are expected to announce their other 2025 netball coaches later this week or next week, and The Spectator believes Anton will also coach on other senior side in the upcoming Hampden Football Netball League season.

The Kangaroos are expected to return to Melville Oval for the 2025 season after spending the past 18 months playing home games at Dunkeld Recreation Reserve and Hawkesdale Recreation Reserve, due to the ongoing redevelopment.