Better unity sought
SENIOR AFL Barwon coaches are pushing for a greater collective voice in a bid to improve football in Geelong.
A number of senior coaches have admitted to being unaware there is already a local footy coaches’ association, highlighting the lack of interaction between coaches and the league.
In a Geelong Advertiser survey of senior GFL, BFL and GDFL coaches — of which 28 replied — 19 voted that they would be in favour or see the need for a coaches’ association.
Newcomb coach Rory Nicol said a revamped coaches’ association would help to improve football in Geelong.
“I think if the coaches are sitting down and having discussions together, I think we can make the game better,” Nicol said.
“I think we can help AFL Barwon, I think we can help umpires — the general issues that are raised weekly at AFL Barwon, I think the coaches are the guys that can really nut it out with them and help them.
“I think we’d come to conclusions on a united front.
“An example might be that every club needs to provide a whiteboard in your opposing away rooms, no matter how bad your facilities are you have to have a whiteboard fixed to the wall. I’m lugging around a three-foot by four-foot whiteboard in my car.
“If we had a coaches’ associ- ation, we could approach AFL Barwon; it wouldn’t be hard.”
AFL Barwon development manager Luke Maher, who has looked after the AFL Barwon Coaches Association — formerly the Geelong and District Coaches Association — for the past four years, said the survey result was overwhelming.
The current coaches’ association highlights the work of coaches at all levels of local footy, with coach of the month awards and celebrating their contribution at an annual din- ner where coach of the year awards are presented.
“I would never have known the amount of people that wanted more input from a coaches’ association,” Maher said.
“To me, that’s enough response in the ‘yes’ category for me to sit there and think, ‘we need to do more work as a coaches’ association’ to be able to bring that to the coaches.
“If a coach has an issue or needs to get something off their chest or a question an- swered, where do they go? It would be great for them to come back to the coaches’ association to float ideas or thoughts.”
Maher said he would like to have one of his colleagues oversee a coaching portfolio at AFL Barwon.
“What I’d like to do is be able to roll both coaching as a program under one of the development managers and the coaches’ association in together so they can pretty much work hand-in-hand,” he said.