Essendon Royals thank Emmet Sheehan and Dave Winton for years of service as they depart the club

Essendon Royals would like to acknowledge the service and contribution of outgoing Men’s Reserves co-coaches Emmet Sheehan and David Winton.

The Royals have been lucky to count on the considerable services of both Emmet and Dave as Reserves co-coaches since 2019, with both having served the club with distinction prior to and throughout their Reserves role.

Dave, a former senior coach and junior coach, has been coaching at the Royals on and off since 2006.

Starting his Royals journey as the club’s Victorian Premier League reserve coach in 2006, Winton went on to coach our senior team for two short stints in 2006 and 2007 in the Premier League, before moving into junior coaching.

Between 2014 and 2017 he coached under-15s and under-18s, including a championship-winning season in 2017 with the 18s, before joining Emmet as co-coach of the Reserves in 2019.

Emmet, who arrived at the Royals as an under-16 coach in 2014, has coached under-17s, under-18s and under-20s – with whom he won a league championship in 2017 – before moving into the Reserves role in 2018.

Outside of coaching, Emmet also served as Club Secretary in 2018 and 2019.

Dave joined Emmet as Reserves co-coach in 2019, and the duo has formed a successful partnership, guiding countless Royals juniors into their first open-age, senior men’s football environments, a number of whom would go onto represent the first team.

In Season 2021, the Royals Reserves provided hours of endless entertainment and after 14 games were league leaders, winning 12 of the 14 games played, with just one draw and one loss.

The Reserves also scored an incredible 66 goals in 14 games.

Emmet and Dave depart the club to take on a senior coaching opportunity elsewhere.

Everyone at the Royals would like to express our gratitude to Dave and Emmet for their many years of wonderful service to the club and wish them all the best on their next footballing journey.