FOUR-TIME Kerang premiership coach, Troy Coates will oversee the Central Murray Football Netball League’s AFL Victoria Community Championship campaign for a second successive season.
The midfielder helped the league end a five-year losing streak in last year’s championship, with the representative side defeating North Central by 14 points eight month ago.
Coates said it was an “easy decision” to accept the coaching role, despite currently based in the Northern Territory overseeing Northern Territory Football League side, Nightcliff.
“I’m looking forward to the role again. We have a number of talented players in the league, and it was great to get a win on the board last year,” he said.
“I will start contacting the league’s coaches next week to develop a squad of between 50 and 60 players who will be required to make themselves available for the competition.
“We’ll see how these players go in the first three to four rounds of the season, before the squad will be cut to 30 prior to the match.”
Coates will implement a different approach for May 13’s match against the Heathcote District Football Netball League compared to the last time the sides met, which saw the Central Murray outfit lose by 29 points under lights at Bendigo’s Queen Elizabeth Oval.
“Last time we played Heathcote District we went into the game with smaller players in the midfield, and as it became night, the conditions were like a wet weather match and Heathcote District’s bigger bodies got on top of us,” he said.
“Heathcote District’s teams are known for having solid bodies across the ground, as well as good forwards, including Grant Weeks and Sam Barnes.”
Spending the past three months in Darwin for one of northern Australia’s premier football competitions will also benefit the league’s campaign, with Coates expanding his footballing knowledge.
Coates has played in 13 of the Tigers’ 14 matches this season, with the side one win clear at the top of the ladder with four rounds remaining.
“It has been different coaching in Darwin. There are a number of factors you have to balance, including fly-in players, those from remote communities locally and recruits from the southern states,” he said.
Meanwhile, as reported in the Gannawarra Times in December, Wandella coach, Paul Grayling will oversee the Golden Rivers Football League side as it aims to record consecutive victories against Kyabram and District.
The league’s leading goalkicker from last year was an assistant coach to Jack O’Rourke last May as the GRFL recorded a 67-point win against Kyabram and District at Tallygaroopna.
“Footy has changed during the past 10 years, with player payments increasing, but I want to get back to the days of interleague when it was an honour to represent your league,” Grayling said.
“I want to see blokes who use representing the league as a bit of a reward for their performances.”
