Lindfield FC Academy Coaching Team
The strength of Lindfield’s coaching lies in its collective, rather than in one or two coaches.
The club continually seeks to improve not just the competency of our coaches, but the club’s overall coaching culture. This entails coaches supporting each other in their mutual development, and supporting each other on a personal basis at training sessions and on match days.
The personal qualities of a coach are just as important to Lindfield FC as their technical and tactical football coaching abilities. We place as much emphasis on coaching the person as we do on coaching the player.
That includes coaches coaching each other.
Each of our coaches who have been selected to coach at The LFC Academy exemplifies this mindset.
Meet our LFC Academy Coaches
COACH BIO’s
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Checo (Francesco) has seven years of coaching experience in grassroots, mini-Roos, development squad, SAP and academy environments.
He has played with Lindfield Football Club, and other clubs, at Super League level over several years.
Checo holds a Foundations of Football qualification.
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Craig is the club’s Super League Head Coach and holds a C Diploma (he is currently undertaking his B Diploma qualification). He has over 15 years’ coaching experience, including in an academy environment.
Craig has coached Lindfield teams that have won State Cups and the Champion of Champions tournament, as well as, NSFA premierships and knock out shields.
He has played in state championships and refereed at National Soccer League and NPL level.
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Fergus has four years of coaching experience at Lindfield, including at Super League level, and holds a C Diploma, Skills Training Certificate and a Foundations of Football qualification.
He has been a Lindfield player for the past 13 years where he has won Football NSW State Cup and Champion of Champion tournaments.
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Hayden is the Head Coach of Lindfield’s Skills Academy.
He has extensive coaching and playing experience at a Super League level with Lindfield FC, where he has won premierships in both roles. He has also coached in an academy environment for several years.
In 2022, Hayden was a recipient of NSFA’s Coaching Scholarship which he used to complete his coaching C Diploma. He also holds both Skills and Game Training Certificates.
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James is a Lindfield Junior and has been involved with the club since he was five. He has extensive playing experience - currently in our Premier League team and previously with Super League and the NPL at Northern Tigers.
James holds both Skills and Game Training coaching certificates, has many years of coaching experience, including in an academy environment, and is Lindfield’s Junior Development League (JDL) Head Coach, as well as a Super League coach.
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Lily has many years of experience playing at a Diamond League level for Lindfield Football Club and has also played with the club’s WAA Prems.
She has coached for five years, including coaching Diamond League, in addition to a large variety of other teams in different age groups. Lily holds a Foundations of Football qualification.
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Samara has many years of NPL playing experience for Northern Tigers and is a Lindfield WAA Prems player.
She has coached for three years including Diamond League. Samara holds a C Diploma, and Skills Training and Game Training coaching certificates.
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Tom has several years of coaching experience is the Head of Social Teams at Lindfield and is a Super League coach.
He holds a C Diploma, Skills Training Certificate and a Foundations of Football qualification.
He also has academy and specialist goalkeeper coaching experience and has played for the club over many years at Super League level.
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Ming-Lok has played in the NPL for four years at both Northern Tigers and UNSW FC. He also has extensive Super League playing experience with Lindfield FC.
He is a Super League coach with Lindfield, and has coached in both academy and club environments across a variety of age groups. Ming Lok holds C Diploma, Skills Training and Foundations of Football coaching qualifications.
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Craig is our Lindfield FC Head Coach – Goalkeeping. He has a Level 1 Goalkeeping Licence and has many years of coaching experience, both at NPL and community level.
Craig has been a goalkeeper for over 40 years, playing extensively at NPL and all age premier league levels.
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Noah has been a goalkeeper for five years, playing at both AYL and Super League level (he is currently our 18A Super League keeper).
He has been coaching for three seasons at Lindfield and is being mentored as a coach by his father, Head Goalkeeping coach Craig.
James Plumley
Ming-Lok Sun
Samara Liebenberg
Head Coach - Super League
Craig Pearce
Craig Whitehouse
Tom Pittman
Lily Dimitrov-Johnson
Head of Skills Academy
Hayden Zorian
Fergus Williams
Checo Torrisi
Coach Development and Support
To support the provision of the premium product that is its Academy, Lindfield FC has a comprehensive and inclusive coach development program that aims to develop excellent coaches for all our competitive teams.
This program includes coach mentoring by Head Coaches and other senior coaches – at training, matches and in one-on-one meetings and group workshops – and the provision of training session plans.
We also support our coaches participating in NSFA, Football NSW and Football Australia-run coaching courses and programs.
Additional value-add initiatives Lindfield FC supports coaches with includes:
A program to aid players and coaches mentally prepare for matches, and for players’ mental well-being more generally
Guidelines on how to uplift team, club and community culture
Training in how to head the ball safely
A pre-season Coaches Camp including aspects of the above, as well as nutrition, safety, match analysis (including through the use of our Veo video camera), and leadership
A concerted, deliberate approach to ensuring coaches feel supported by their fellow coaches and the club – a coaches’ community.
“Lindfield FC has more players than any other NSFA club and wins more premierships than any other NSFA club.
The Club takes its leadership role seriously and the Skills Academy is a manifestation of this.”