Wests are thrilled to announce that Adam Baxter (AB) will be our Men’s Head Coach for 2025.

Adam has been one of the most talented hockey players to play for Wests and his list of hockey achievements is phenomenal.

While Adam did not come through our junior ranks, he played all his senior hockey with Wests from 2005 until retiring from CL1 at the end of the 2024 season.  AB played around 325 first grade games for Wests, winning 7 premierships and the Brophy Medal in 2012.  AB also played 80 games for the Canberra Lakers from 2007 to 2018 and was selected in various Australia A squads during that period. 

AB’s coaching experience is also impressive.  He was the ACT U21 Men’s Coach in 2018 and the ACTAS Emerging Talent pathway coach as well as previously coaching Wests CL1 as a player/coach, earning an HACT CL1 Coach of the Year Award in 2015.

Adam brings a wealth of hockey experience to the role and is keen build on Steady’s fantastic work with the CL group over the past three years.  Adam has a passion for nurturing hockey talent and relishes the game day strategy needed to maintain our position at the top of men’s hockey in the ACT. 

While CL1 have done an amazing job cementing their position as one of the best teams in the competition, the past few years have been a bit tougher for the teams below as we recovered from covid lockdowns and struggled with low player numbers across the top three grades.  We now have another talented crop of junior boys transitioning to seniors this season and with the support of CDC and the expanded Head Coach role, Adam is the perfect coach to bring those players through, strengthen the club and build on our past success.

We are very lucky to have such exceptional coaching talent within the club and are very excited to see what AB can do in the new role.

We are also very grateful to our new major sponsor, CDC, for supporting us to foster our coaching talent.