Newtown and Chilwell Cricket Club is proud to announce that former Geelong coach Damian Shanahan will play with the Two Blues this summer. The 40-year-old had highly successful stints with Camberwell and Geelong in Premier cricket as a batsman, bowler, captain and coach. Earlier this year, he announced he was stepping aside as coach of Geelong.

“We are thrilled that Shanners has chosen to join our club,” said club President Phillip Morgan.

“While his ability as a cricketer is something we relish enjoying, just having a person of his experience around the club is going to be good for us. Our youngsters will benefit from his knowledge, in fact everyone at the club will. He is one of the best credentialled cricketers in Victoria, and when you add his name to those of Marc Carson and Rod Kiddle, along with our Gooch/Insole scholarship holder Chris Pepper, there’s a lot of talent, a lot of wisdom, a deep well of cricket knowledge for everyone at our club to drink from as we encourage people to come and play this great game of cricket that we all love and want to nurture.”

Shanahan played 181 games for Camberwell before moving to Geelong where he took the club to a T20 flag and two club championships.

“One of the reasons I stepped down as coach of Geelong was that I felt burnt out and that it was time for a fresh voice at the club,” Damian said. “Another reason was family, I have two young children, Isabella and Xavier, I’d wanted to spend more time with. Queens Park is just down the road from where we live in Highton so the drive to and from cricket on Saturdays won’t be so long. And I also have a family connection to Newtown through my wife Bec, her father Gavan is a life member & major sponsor (Connect Tel) there and my brother-in-law Tim is a premiership player."

“It will be great just to be a player again, to relax and enjoy my cricket. At the same time, I am happy to help out when required in support of my great friend Marc Carson, the coach at Newtown. Carso and I spent a lot of time together at Geelong where he gave me so much support.”

“I am looking forward to being able to return that favour.”