Melbourne Stars will appoint a new WBBL coach ahead of the 2026-27 season with incumbent Andy Christie moving back to an assistant role with the club as part of Cricket Victoria’s wider restructuring.

Christie, who was named Stars’ coach last year when he replaced Jonathan Batty, will remain as head coach of Victoria in the WNCL as they look to recover from a horror campaign last season where they lost all 12 games.

The move initially emerged through job adverts online for the WBBL head coach position with Stars subsequently confirming the new structure. “With the realignment at Cricket Victoria, the Stars will recruit a head coach to be solely focused on the WBBL, with Andy working closely alongside them to tie the state and WBBL programs together,” the club said in a statement.

Christie took Stars to the Knockout final in last season’s tournament where they were beaten by Perth Scorchers.

Cricket Victoria has merged the operations of Melbourne Stars and Renegades and will only operate one team going forward. They plan to sell their second license when BBL privatisation is approved, although that could still be some way off.

Initially they had planned to rebrand Stars into a single Melbourne club for the upcoming season but they have been forced to step back from the process, meaning both teams will operate in their traditional brands at least for 2026-27, although Renegades will be under a temporary structure with oversight from Cricket Australia.

Renegades, who are led by Australia captain Sophie Molineux, also need to find a new WBBL head coach after Simon Helmot stepped down earlier this year.

The two sides will feature on the opening day of the WBBL season on October 29 with Stars playing under Junction Oval’s new floodlights against defending champions Hobart Hurricanes.

The coaching positions of the two BBL sides also remains in a state of flux. Cameron White is set to move from Renegades to Stars with current Stars head coach Peter Moores working under him as an assistant.

Various names have been linked to the Renegades BBL job including Greg Shipperd, while Code Sports reported that Ryan Campbell and Luke Ronchi are also in the running. Across both WBBL and BBL whoever takes the roles could well be just as an interim given further potential changes when the club is sold.

It is set to be confirmed later this week that Renegades will start the BBL season by ‘hosting’ the first game in Chennai against Perth Scorchers.