Rodney Eade is officially the Gold Coast Suns’ new coach after Collingwood confirmed they had reached an agreement with the AFL club on Thursday.
The Suns had hoped to make the announcement earlier this week but were delayed due to Collingwood’s claim of compensation for their former director of football Eade.
After three days of talks the clubs agreed on an undisclosed sum but there is speculation that it was as high as $50,000.
Eade has signed on for the next three seasons as Suns coach.
“Confirmation of the appointment followed meaningful negotiations as Rodney had an employment contract in place with Collingwood, however, a mutual agreement was reached between our two clubs, and we are now extremely happy to ratify Rodney as our new senior coach,” Suns chairman John Witheriff said in a statement.
A veteran of 314 games as an AFL head coach, Eade, 56, takes control of his third club after guiding Sydney to the 1996 grand final and three straight preliminary finals with the Western Bulldogs.
Collingwood chief executive Gary Pert said he would oversee the club’s football department as they searched for a replacement for Eade.
“‘Rocket’ has been a great source of support to our coach, Nathan Buckley, and his experience, industry knowledge, football IQ and personality made him an outstanding person to have at our club,” Pert said of Eade who had been Magpies director of football for the last three years.
“Clearly, those same qualities made him someone of obvious appeal to Gold Coast.
“They have chosen wisely, we will miss him and we wish him well.”