Docking calls time on job at the Tigers

South Bunbury premiership coach Mark Docking has called time on his career after three years in the top job.

Docking informed the club at the end of the season that 2017 would be his last at the helm of the Tigers, having spent six years at the club in a coaching capacity, including three as reserves coach.

“I didn’t think I was getting the best out of the group and it was time for a change,” Docking told the Bunbury Herald.

“I had taken the group as far as I could.”

In 2016 Docking took South Bunbury to their first league premiership in 14 years, but this season the Tigers finished eighth on the ladder.

South Bunbury won just six games this season, with Docking forced to play a number of young players due to injuries and a lack of form from his senior squad.

“The results do not concern me, it was more about the process and the way we carried ourselves,” he said.

Docking did not rule out a return to coaching in the future, but said for now he was concentrating on other aspects of his life.

“You never say never but at the moment I am going to spend some time with my family,” he said.

“I walk away proud with what we were able to achieve.

“18 or 19 of the guys in our premiership side played colts football for South Bunbury which is great for the club.”

Docking said in the six years he spent coaching at the club he “changed the way South Bunbury played”.

“We became a more physical team,” he said.

“I walk away with my head held high.”