How Borovec landed his dream job at Vics
ANDRE Borovec says he has landed a “dream job” as he prepares for life at Victoria.
Signing as an assistant coach, the much-loved Geelong mentor will begin his new role under Andrew McDonald in three weeks.
It will be another chapter in the Borovec-McDonald partnership, with the pair working side-by-side at the Melbourne Renegades last season.
They also played together at the Cats, a relationship that played a key part in Borovec’s rise to the professional ranks.
“We’ve known each other for a number of years through playing, but since he’s come on board as state coach, he’s provided some opportunities for the Premier coaches in environments such as Futures League, under-19 academy and since taking those opportunities on I’ve been able to get some support with my coaching,” Borovec said.
“Last year I was able to add to that with BBL experience with the Renegades. It’s a dream stepping stone, that’s for sure.”
Working as an assistant coach of Victoria’s Futures League team last season, Borovec was always the frontrunner to land a gig with the state team.
But he was made to earn his stripes, beating a host of highly credentialed candidates to the role.
“There was a job advertised a few weeks back and it got my attention,” Borovec revealed.
“I applied and went through the interview stage and hoped for the best and luckily the cards fell my way.
“You’d expect it would’ve been a big field, and in any sport, jobs in coaching don’t come up all the time because they’re highly sought after and this would have been no exception.
“Coaching is all about opportunities and I’ll be looking to make a contribution.
“We’ll be looking to complement each other with the different skill sets that we bring to the table. Having worked in coaching in the past, when you’ve got a good group of coaches who complement each other, great things can happen.
“That’s what I’m looking to contribute to here, bringing my strengths to a group of coaches who have a heap of strengths.”
Stepping away from Geelong’s SEDA College, where he has worked for several years, Borovec’s role will have a strong emphasis on development.
“I’ll be helping to facilitate plans for the pre-season but also in-season as well,” Borovec said.
“Pre-season, the focus will be the players’ individual programs, so I’ll be adding support to the bowling coach Mick Lewis, to Lachie Stevens and Andrew McDonald. They’ll have plans already in place given it’s approaching August.
“Leading into the season I’ll be coach of the Futures League side and there’s a big development aspect to that when you look at the age demographic of the squad — it’s quite young, and there’s a number of players who aren’t contracted and also recently contracted players staking claims for state selection.
“It’s going to be an exciting role, a challenging role and an important role.”