Railways appoint highly-credentialed football identity Mark Bayliss as new league coach

Former AFL player and experienced coach Mark Bayliss has been announced as the man to lead Railways forward in 2021. Bayliss was announced as the Tigers’ new league coach last night, replacing Troy Leo, who stepped down after two seasons in charge. His appointment ended a hunt for Leo’s replacement after the Tigers were knocked out in last season’s preliminary final. Bayliss played four AFL games with Collingwood after being taken with pick 11 in the 1988 national draft and had an extensive playing career with South Fremantle. He has more than 15 years of coaching experience, mainly in the WAFL and South West Football League. Bayliss coached Harvey Bulls to three premierships from six grand final appearances and guided the SWFL to two A-section championships at the Landmark Country Football Championships. During his time as senior coach, Bayliss has also been with Harvey Brunswick-Leschenault, South Bunbury and Karratha Cats, with a stint as Peel Thunder’s reserves coach and assistant league coach. Bayliss hasn’t coached since 2012 but was eager to take on the challenge at the Tigers in their 75th year. “I hadn’t consider it, it just came to me that Troy had to depart quickly and the club was in a situation where they were struggling to find a league coach,” he said. “I have some friends at the club that I have a beer with here and was approached. “When I first thought about it I probably didn’t think I could fit the job in with my schedule but when I sat down and went through it all it was probably more off-season for racing which enabled me a bit of spare time and to get to know the community here, I thought it was an opportunity to help the club out.” Bayliss said he would bring a different style of coaching to the club. “I always say when clubs have been run pretty well I think I can bring a different outlook to the playing group, maybe a different style,” he said. “My style of coaching is a bit different than modern day coaches but in the same breath it’s not a hard style of footy to play. “I will be aiming to try and get Railways to a premiership; whether you get there or not is another thing but the most important part is you just want (players) to embrace the club and enjoy your footy, and if you get a couple of those things right you never know what can happen on the day.” Bayliss is the current general manager of the Albany Racing Club. The Tigers also named Bodhi Stubber and Kane Shephard as co-coaches of the colts, Jack Hastie as the reserves coach and Dan Cale will be in charge of the 16s.