Football
2 April, 2026
WFNL 2026 preview: Stawell coaching lineup stable
James Sullivan and Perry Meka will again lead Stawell in the Wimmera Football Netball League.
And after finishing fourth in the regular season in 2025 before their finals hopes were quashed by Dimboola in the elimination final, the club have been the main mover and shaker in the off-season, bringing in close to 10 recruits to bolster their side in the new year.
Leading the coaching duo is Meka, an experienced veteran when it comes to leading footy sides.
Meka added his coaching experience at the Warriors alongside Sullivan in 2025 after working in the AFL in an opposition analysis role.
Incredibly, the pair have a long-running connection, with Meka having been Sullivan's Auskick coach at Tatura.
Meka is also an experienced ex-player with a resume of more than 500 games of footy and having played his part in four premierships.
Sullivan moved to the Wimmera in 2023 after his wife, Georgia, was placed in the region for work.
He enjoyed his first season with Stawell before taking the coaching reins in 2024.
"Prior to that I played most of my career for Tatura in the Goulburn Valley FL where I won a premiership in 2012," Sullivan said.
"I've also had stints with Box Hill in the VFL, Caulfield (including as an assistant coach), Golden Square and Southern Districts in the NTFL."
Sullivan said although he was still adapting his coaching style, it was more centered around the player and built around mentoring, relationships and teaching.
He said he'd been lucky enough to play under some outstanding coaches in his time, which had helped to shape him into the leader he aspired to be.
The co-coach said from the moment he arrived at Central Park, he knew the club was special.
"They were the most supportive and welcoming club so once the opportunity opened to coach it was a no-brainer really," Sullivan said.
"I loved my first year: extremely supported from the footy department, committee, other coaches and players, and learnt a lot about myself and coaching in general.
"I am extremely excited for 2026."
Sullivan balances his coaching duties with his role in the health and safety team at Stawell Gold Mines; he is a qualified exercise physiologist with a background in injury management.
Away from footy he enjoys travelling to new places, along with general fitness and health, hiking, skiing and spending time with family, friends and his dog.
Sullivan said his coaching team were a bit disappointed with the end of last season, given the side had a good shot at the double opportunity heading into finals but lost the elimination final in double overtime.
"From our losses we learnt a lot and know now where we need to improve and strengthen areas and were able to sit down and be strategic with what this looked like for 2026," said Sullivan, adding that recruiters had been specific to their areas of need.
"We have a good core group who took some big steps forward in season 2025 and have been able to retain the majority of our list, which as coaches we were extremely excited about."
Sullivan said the club had had a big focus on attracting local talent who would be able to learn their game plan and attend training each week.
"Having someone of the calibre of Tom Eckel come back after a year in Melbourne is something we are very excited about," Sullivan said.
"We have also been able to get back Jesse Portelli who played juniors with the Warriors and some good footy since.
"We were really impressed with Angus Murray, who played a game for us last year, as well as Jo Martin, who had an outstanding year with the Swifts."
Sullivan said all four players had existing relationships with the current list of players.
"We were also able to be able to target a couple of others in Daniel (Guccione) and Sunny (Brazier) who have both played some good footy in Melbourne and we are extremely excited to see them pull on the red and black," Sullivan said.
"They all bring individual strengths and will play roles that we identified as areas of need from last year."
The Warriors started their preseason pre-Christmas, and co-coach Sullivan said the players had come back in great condition.
"We introduced some new concepts into our game style last year which we will continue to learn and progress in order to improve," he said.
"The main goal at this point in time is to get better.
"We have always focused on us and what we are doing, so we will be looking to implement the fundamentals of what we learnt last year and strive to continue to improve."
