The Greater Northern Raiders are pleased to announce their new leadership structure ahead of the upcoming 2023-24 cricket season.
Darren Simmonds will continue as the head coach of the Greater Northern Raiders women’s program, a role he has held since the program’s inception in 2019-20. Having led the Raiders to all four possible Wilson Homes Cricket Tasmania Premier League (CTPL) Grand Finals over the past two seasons, the Raiders broke through to win their maiden statewide title in 2022-23, winning the Twenty20 Grand Final against North Hobart. This is momentum Simmonds will be looking to build on in season 2023-24.
Meanwhile on the men’s side of the program, Alistair Taylor will take the helm in the role of head coach, following Tim Coyle’s resignation from the position at the end of last season. A former Cricket Tasmania (CT) Pathway player himself, Taylor has been a fixture in the sport in the North of the state for 13 years, both as a player and in various leadership positions. He has also been employed with Cricket Tasmania as a High Performance Pathway Coach since August 2021.
Completing the Raiders leadership trio will be Marc Simonds, in the role of Greater Northern Raiders Program Coordinator. Another Tasmanian cricket alumni – with Simonds previously holding a state rookie contract - Simonds' name is another synonymous with cricket on the state’s North West Coast, initially as a player, then as head coach of the Sheffield Cricket Club men’s side, and most recently as a Cricket Tasmania High Performance Pathway Coach; a role he took on in September 2022.
Both Taylor and Simonds will be taking on these new responsibilities as a part of their current roles with Cricket Tasmania.
Cricket Tasmania’s General Manager of High Performance, Salliann Beams, said it was a win for all involved in the sport in the state’s Greater North to have the Raiders new structure clearly defined well ahead of the season’s start date.
“The Greater Northern Raiders program is such a crucial part of Cricket Tasmania’s Pathway, it’s important that we get it right,” Beams said of the program’s review process.
“Because of the Raiders’ representation in the CTPL, they are often thought of as just another club, but they are so much more than that,” Beams continued.
“The Raiders is a unique program that aims to give opportunities to cricketers based in the Greater Northern region of the state the opportunity to play at the highest level of competition we have to offer, which is the CTPL.
“With people such as Darren, AT and Marc in these key roles, who already have built such great relationships and connections across the region, we know that we need to continue to improve the depth of talent for the Raiders program. We feel all three have the skillset to lead the charge and guide this next generation of up-and-coming Tassie talent.
“Shifting to using internal CT employees enables the organisation to increase our level of support and to align the Raiders program to our other talent pathway programs in relation to program content and design, talent ID and development, and accountability for producing our next best contracted players,” Beams concluded.
The abovementioned structure will remain in place for a 12-month period, whilst a full review of the Greater Northern Raiders program is completed.