Canada Northwind head coach Cody Royle has stepped down with immediate effect.
Royle has guided the men’s senior and development teams since 2015, after joining Northwind in 2012 as a senior assistant coach to Ben Roberts.
During his tenure, Royle helped Northwind win the 2014 International Cup Division 1 title, as well as coaching midfielders Neil Casey and Nathan Strom (2014) and Eric Klein (2017) to World Team selection.
He was also instrumental in professionalizing the national team, setting up a high-performance department and implementing training methodologies usually reserved for AFL environments.
“I’m upset that we weren’t able to show everyone our work at the 2020 International Cup, but sport isn’t fair sometimes,” he said.
“Coaches often get too much credit, and that’s how I feel about working with this team. I was a beneficiary of the junior programs set up across Canada, and was fortunate to get to work with a bunch of players who’d been playing for a decade before they got to the national team” Royle added.
Royle believes that the ongoing success of the country’s junior programs, and continued opportunities for Canadians to get into coaching, stand the national team in good stead for the future.
“It’s been an honor to coach so many tough, dedicated, and connected young men. Almost every team we played tried to intimidate us physically, but I can’t think of a time we took a backwards step. For me, that describes the Canadian people — brave, loyal, proud.”
AFL Canada’s Board of Directors would like to extend its sincerest thanks to Coach Royle, and wish him the best for future endeavors, both in and out of Footy.
AFL Canada will begin the search for a new Northwind head coach in the coming weeks. Follow us on LinkedIn or Twitter to get updated once the position is posted.
