Rushworth Football Club senior coach Mark Wheatley and A-grade coach Sheree Starling took out joint Coach of the Year honours after masterminding two remarkable rises at the club. Photo: Holly Daniel.
Rushworth Football Netball Club duo Mark Wheatley and Sheree Starling were recognised for the incredible turnaround they led across their respective programs by being named joint Coach of the Year winners at the 2025 Echuca-Moama Sportstar awards.
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Wheatley has transformed the Tigers in the Kyabram District League since taking over.
In 2023, the club didn’t field a senior football side at all, and only won five games in 2024 before a stunning improvement in 2025 saw the Tigers not only post a winning record but progress all the way to a preliminary final.
Liam Francis claimed the KDL best and fairest under Wheatley’s stewardship.
Photo by
Matthew Kappos
“The club was dead and buried almost and on the canvas, knocked out, and to rise from the ashes so to speak and to put something like this together is one of the highlights of my life really,” he said.
Meanwhile, Starling led an equally impressive turnaround with the senior netball side, who did not win a game in 2024 before also progressing all the way to a preliminary final in 2025.
“Our goal was to make finals, but at the end of the day, it wasn't so much to win games, it was to help build it back up, we could lose games and still build,” she said.
“It just worked out better than I ever could have expected, really.
“Everyone bought in.”
Both of Rushworth’s senior sides being rejuvenated at the same time is certainly no coincidence either, with the whole of club approach that Wheatley and Starling have implemented together being key to their success.
“I was really passionate in my first year about getting a strong netball component, to have both components of our club rising up at the same time,” Wheatley said.
“To get someone of the calibre of Sheree, and for us to see eye to eye on a lot of things and our philosophies really align and intertwine is why we are such a great club.”
Rushworth went from a winless 2024 to make the preliminary final.
Photo by
Matthew Kappos
Starling echoed such sentiment, explaining how it has been a unique experience for her as a netball coach.
“I’ve been a senior coach and never had a conversation with the football senior coach,” she said.
“Mark rang me before the season even started and introduced himself, and I think we spoke for an hour on the phone, and then we had multiple conversations like that throughout the year, and it was just easy because we were on the same page.
“We wanted the same things, we wanted to do the same things, we had the same plans, so it was just easy.“
Coach of the year nominees Kate Christie, Mark Wheatley, Josh Rankins and Sheree Starling. (Absent Corey Carver and Kaine Herbert). Photo: Holly Daniel.
Photo by
Holly Daniel
Wheatley and Starling took out the Coach of the Year award ahead of fellow nominees that included Kyabram Bombers duo Corey Carver and Kaine Herbert, Echuca Pirates’ Josh Rankins, and Moama Junior Football Club’s Kate Christie.
