Sport
21 July, 2026
Royal Blues coach to make comeback next year
DONALD has reappointed senior coach Matt Walder for 2027 after the team’s dramatic resurgence this season.
DONALD has reappointed senior coach Matt Walder for 2027 after the team’s dramatic resurgence this season.
The Royal Blues are still in with a chance of playing finals football this year after a winless 2025 and Walder has been rewarded for his critical part in the turnaround.
Walder has coached this season alongside playing co-coach Daniel Pearce, but it is unclear whether Pearce will assume the same role next year.
Club president Marc Adams said several announcements about coaching and player re-signings would come in the next few weeks.
“We’ve got big things happening,” he said.
Walder, whose coaching experience goes back more than 25 years, has made an enormous impact with the playing group in his first year at Donald.
“He has been great for player development across the board,” Adams said.
“It’s not just with the best players or the juniors – he works as well with a 15-year-old kid as with a 34-year-old bloke.” Adams said the club had recognised that Pearce had too much on his plate as a solo coach last season, with a poor playing list making his job all but impossible.
Pearce did what he could, winning the club best and fairest award, but help was needed.
“We went down the path of appointing a senior coach given that we didn’t have a good side and there was too much for Daniel to do on his own,” Adams said.
Walder has coached and played in the AFL Queensland competition, won a flag with Ararat in 2023, and coached Warrack Eagles before joining Donald. A 76-point win over Charlton last Saturday sees Donald just one game behind fourth-placed Birchip Watchem with six games remaining before finals.
The next three games are extremely demanding, with the Royal Blues facing the three top teams in the league, beginning with unbeaten Wedderburn this week.
But whatever the results of those clashes, 2026 will be seen as a successful season that offers great promise for the future.
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