Jacksonville Axemen Rugby League

Championship Coach Mathews Keeley Returns for 2014 Season

The Jacksonville Axemen are excited to announce that Mathews Keeley will return as coach for the 2014 season. Keeley coached the Axemen during an undefeated 2012 season, secured the USARL Championship win and was named Man of the Match by USARL Chairman Peter Illfield. After returning to Australia for the past two years he has been preparing for his return to the Axemen. “When I left Jacksonville on September 7 2012 I knew I had to come back,” states Keeley. “The 2012 season was hands down the greatest 6 months of my life. The people of Jacksonville are amongst the happiest, kind, and fun loving individuals I’ve ever come across in my travels around the world; they have this energy and culture that’s infectious and not something I understood until I lived here.”

Keeley is returning to coach the Axemen for a highly anticipated 2014 season with three new teams in the South Division of the USARL. “I’m really excited about where the game is heading in America; in particular with the expansion of the Southern Conference. The experience offered by Drew and Spinner in 2012 meant I left America with a burning desire to come back and put the Axemen jersey on again.”  With an impressive track record coaching for the Axemen, Keeley assumes nothing less from his players this year. “I expect what every Axemen player contains – the desire to be best! In 2012 we had the motto ‘You’re not the best until you hold the trophy in air so until then we have a job to do’. Nothing was more satisfying then after winning the National Championship in Boston and seeing my players know they were the best and no one could take that away from them.”

Keeley would like nothing more than to see his team holding the trophy up in front of a Jacksonville crowd when the Axemen host the 2014 Championship game. “We owe it not only to ourselves but to our fans to strive for nothing less than to be 2014 USARL Champions. The work starts now, preparing for training camp striving for our goal throughout the season.” Axemen fans can welcome back Mat Keeley at the 2014 Axemen training camp scrimmage, May 10th, 5pm at UNF Hodges Stadium followed by a fan and player social at Time Out Sports Grill.

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