How Franc Pierro turned Coniston from seventh to grand final winners

Pierro - who lives and breathes Coniston - was thrust into the head coaching role after the departure of Rob Jonovski.

It was the ideal appointment. Pierro had seen the club go from the Community League and rise all the way to the top flight as a player.

As Pierro entered the field prior to kickoff in the grand final, Coniston's active support were cheering his name, such is the love and respect everyone at the club has for him.

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After retiring from playing due to injury in 2021, Pierro joined Coniston's under-18s coaching staff. He then took the next step as head coach of their IPL second grade side, guiding them to grand final glory last year.

Throughout the season, Pierro reiterated that it was a 'one step at a time' journey. Even in the finals series when his side upset teams like Olympic and Albion Park, the coach was focused on his side improving week by week.

"I'm ecstatic mate, the guys really deserve it - I'm so proud of them. Everyone at the club is so proud of them. We saw today what we can do," Pierro said on Sunday.

"We knew we could get to this point and we showed that now. Before the game started, we were confident all week that we could take it out. And they've just come here today and done just that.

"We came from seventh to taking out a grand final. It was one step as a time as we always said and the guys are the ones that believed in the process. Now they're seeing that come to fruition.

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"It's incredible. We will remember this forever."

By his own admission Pierro's troops had a rocky start when he took over.

There was a first up 3-0 win against Port Kembla, however losses to eventual league champions Albion Park (1-0) and finalists Olympic (3-0) followed. They followed those losses up with a heartening 1-1 draw against grand finalists Cringila, where they had the lead for the majority of the contest but were denied the three points after Peter Simonoski converted a late penalty.

But from there, the wheels were starting to be put into motion. An eight match unbeaten run instilled plenty of confidence into the team.

They actually finished the regular season with two losses and a draw, but once it got to do-or-die circumstances in the finals, Coniston had a game plan and they stuck to it four times in a row on their way to grand final glory.

They certainly rode their luck at times. Albion Park could have easily converted a half-chance in the preliminary final, but they didn't. Coniston held strong and Daniel Loe rose tallest from a corner to put his side into the grand final.

"I think the environment with the lads is very professional," captain Lukas Stergiou said.

"We knew it was a turbulent season, changes in coaching staff. We just knew that in the 90 minutes on the field and the training sessions we had that we just had to turn up [on the day] and perform and the results would come."

Pierro instilled that belief in his side and in the end, it paid dividends on the final day of the season when it mattered most.

Pierro has simply started his newest era at Coniston in the best possible way.

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