Northern NSW NPLM strugglers Lake Macquarie have unveiled veteran head coach Steve Piggott as the replacement for Keelan Hamilton.
The multiple first-division coach of the year award winner has agreed to take on the job for next season and beyond and was revealed as the incoming boss to players on Wednesday night after a 3-1 loss to Cooks Hill.
Lake Macquarie, who sit last with one game to play this year, announced on Sunday that they and Hamilton had agreed he would not return for a second season in charge.
Lakes director of football Alex Butt confirmed to the Newcastle Herald on Thursday that Piggott would be taking over.
"Keelan is going to finish out the season and he and Keelan are going to catch up and have a chat over the weekend on where everything is up to, and then he's going to meet the squad face-to-face after training on Tuesday," Butt said of Piggott.
He said one of the main reasons Piggott, a former Maitland, Weston, South Cardiff and Azzurri coach in the top NNSW division, had been appointed was because he was confident of sticking with the job beyond next season.
"It was disappointing because Keelan was that guy, but if he's not going to do it for longer than a season, then he's not," Butt said. "It's obviously a space that's not going to be developed in 12 months.
"We are really excited with the core group of under 20s we have here. What we didn't get this year was some experience to support them.
"And that's obviously where Piggo has a good record. [Former Weston player] Connor Evans has had an awesome career in Sydney, and wherever Piggo has gone he's been able to push through some of the younger ones to be seasoned seniors."
Piggott last coached in the NPL in 2018 at Weston and he has since had a stint guiding second-division side Toronto Awaba.
Before his second term at Weston, Piggott coached for a second time at Maitland. Before that, he had tenures at South Cardiff and Azzurri. He was coach of the year in 2014 despite being sacked by Weston after that one season, in which he took them to the grand final.
Meanwhile, Lake Macquarie stayed at the bottom after the loss to Cooks Hill in a catch-up game at Fearnley Dawes Athletics Field.
The Roosters led 1-0 in the 63rd minute via a John Majurovski penalty after a foul in the box. Cooks Hill hit back to lead with quality strikes from Finn Todhunter (83rd minute) and Sam Webb (88th).
Lakes pushed all 11 players forward in search of an equaliser deep in stoppage time but were caught on the counter by Jamie Byrnes, who scored into an empty goal for 3-1.
The win lifted Cooks Hill, who will finish ninth on debut in the NPL, to 18 points with matches against Broadmeadow and Adamstown to go. Lakes have seven points, one less than Adamstown, and one game left against Broadmeadow on September 4 to avoid the wooden spoon.
