It is with much excitement that the Savige Pest Control Ipswich Jets can announce that the captain of their 2015 premiership-winning Cup side, Keiron Lander, who also lifted the NRL State Championship trophy, will take the reins of Head Coach in 2020. He will be assisted by Mark Bishop who himself, coached the winning BRL side of the same year.
Keiron comes with fine pedigree. In 2005 Keiron started playing in the Intrust Super cup for the Toowoomba Clydesdales (Brisbane Broncos system) before being part of the North Queensland Young Guns in 2007 and then came to the Jets in 2010. He was named Captain in 2011 and remained so all the way through to his retirement in 2015, after his grand final victory. In that time, he was in the Queensland Representative side and has always been more about enhancing the skills of the players outside of football and very much believes in leading by example. Keiron was instrumental in setting up the Jets Assistance Group; a program that allows players to help their peers during hard times.
CEO Richard Hughes said, “With the departure of Ben and Shane Walker at the same time, we wanted to ensure we maintained the culture and high standards that they had built over the last 11 years. We didn’t have to look far to get the perfect solution for that problem.”
Mr. Hughes continued “Keiron ’s first job was to recruit a team around him and the fact he has chosen Mark Bishop to support him, has us very excited for 2020. We couldn’t be happier, to give one of our own the shot at the top job.”
Keiron has spent the last four years working under Ben and Shane Walker across the coaching spectrum, as well as successfully coaching the Queensland Murri U16 team to victory in 2019. Keiron also does a lot for the Indigenous community,throughout Queensland (urban, regional and remote communities), delivering the Deadly Choices program.
The Savige Pest Control Ipswich Jets Chairman, Steve Johnson remarked,”We are who we are because of Keiron Lander so it was never a question of whether he is the best person to lead us forward it was simply a question for Keiron, did he have time in his busy life of selflessly helping others.”
Mr Johnson continued “The Ipswich Jets are about opportunity in our game and like Kevin Walters going on to coach QLD, I am excited for Keiron’s journey as a coach. If I could have picked one person to continue the Walker brother’s legacy it would always be Keiron Lander and if I could pick one person to coach our great club with him, it would always be Mark Bishop.”
The Savige Pest Control Ipswich Jets will shortly announce the rest of their coaching structure for 2020.