Kalgoorlie mentor expected to join new squad members by month’s end

Kalgoorlie officials are expecting new coach Aaron Pacey’s official move west from interstate to be made by the end of this month — ahead of the team’s season-opener in the Goldfields Football League on April 11. Pacey was formally announced on Saturday as Rick Butterfield’s senior replacement, and he joins the black-and-whites from Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula with solid credentials. “He’s got plenty of experience across different leagues in Victoria, has also played in country South Australia and been a coach and playing-coach,” Kalgoorlie president Jeremy Foale said. “Aaron’s quite across the game of football — his attitude, the way he views the game and how he wants to develop youth and our players generally, which aligns well with what we want as a club. “Our first phone call probably went for 45 minutes and got to the point where we felt comfortable asking him if he would be interested in coming across for a look, (and) we flew him over on January 19. “He had a good look around, was introduced to key people at the club, and we even organised for him to sit down for a chat with (triple-premiership coach) Colin Rule, to get an understanding of the league and what it takes to win flags here.” Foale said Pacey got the nod among a solid short-list. “We probably reviewed seven different candidates,” Foale said. “It’s been a bit of a journey, but we’re happy to get it done now. “At the moment, he’s coming on board as a non-playing coach — whether he gets the itch and wants to have a run, that might happen, but I don’t know. “He’s in good shape and still running ultra-marathons — he’s a pretty fit guy, and works as a fireman in Victoria. “One of the things that really impressed me about him was the effort he took to talk to people and then remember their names, be generally interested in what’s going on at the club, and how the group is going.” Foale said the off-season had been one of self-reflection, after the Roos last year finished fourth and bowed out of flag contention with a 51-point loss against Railways in the first semi-final. “We had some pretty open and honest discussions, about where we need to improve, what it looks like moving forward, making sure everybody was aligned with that, and that we’re prepared to put the work in, on and off the track,” he said. “To be honest, it didn’t really matter that we didn’t have a name (of a new senior coach) to give them because everyone knew what we wanted to do and had faith that we’d find the right person to steer that. “For me that was the key thing — we made it very clear what the goal was this year and we didn’t want to go rushing into picking a name. “You have to make sure you have the right person in that seat, as a critical piece of the puzzle.” Pacey is expected to retain the bulk of last year’s squad, with Dylan Clarke, Ryan Paterson and Bailey Norris each coming off big seasons when they were named in the GFL’s 2025 team of the year. Norris last year won the Jack Neil Medal as Kalgoorlie’s best player and was the joint runner-up for the GFL’s Mitchell Medal. Under Pacey, Kalgoorlie are chasing an elusive premiership after winning back-to-back flags in 2019 and 2021, broken up by the 2020 season that was cancelled because of COVID-19. Kalgoorlie made the 2024 grand final from fourth position but lost to Railways by 28 points. Victory in the 2021 grand final against Boulder made Rule the most successful coach in club history after he also orchestrated the 2013 and 2019 premierships. The Roos’ 2021 success was their eighth since 1980. Kevin Patten coached the 1980 team, followed by Jack Neil (1984), Glenn O’Loughlin (1988), Richard Holmes (1992) and Ian Holman (1999), before Rule went on his run of three premierships.