Sam Groth to quit as Victorian deputy Liberal leader at next party room meeting on February 3

Former elite tennis player Sam Groth is now set to resign as the Liberal Party’s deputy leader in Victoria at the next party room meeting in early February.

The 38-year-old first-term MP announced on Monday that he would be quitting politics at the November election, blaming people in the Liberal Party for backgrounding against him.

But in an unusual move, he didn’t announce that he would be immediately relinquishing his post as the party’s deputy leader, after just a year in that role serving under short-lived Opposition leader Brad Battin and his successor Jess Wilson.

Mr Groth late on Tuesday afternoon told colleagues he would be resigning as deputy leader at the Liberal Party’s next meeting on February 3 to coincide with State Parliament resuming for the year.

His decision to delay his announcement about his future as deputy leader frustrated his Liberal colleagues early on Tuesday afternoon.

“I would suggest that there does need to be a change before the election,” a Liberal shadow assistant minister told The Nightly. “Otherwise, people wouldn’t have confidence in the leadership.”

State Liberal MP Chris Crewther, who held the neighbouring Mornington Peninsula electorate to Mr Groth’s, said politics was tough.

“Politics is a difficult game. It is really difficult for family. Particularly in leadership roles, you’re probably spending even more time away from the family,” he told The Nightly.

“There are tough elements of politics both between parties but also within parties as well. I think everyone experiences that.”

Mr Goth announced he would leave politics at the next election just weeks after reaching a legal settlement with News Corp’s Herald Sun newspaper which had a story making allegations about how he had met his wife Brittany.