BIG SHOES TO FILL FOR BROWN

NEW Lauderdale coach Clint Brown has likened stepping into the void left by Darren Winter as a basketballer replacing LeBron James in the LA Lakers starting five.

And he has already had a taste of life post the Winter era following the club’s best and fairest awards night last Friday.

An assistant at the Bombers for the past five years, Brown was offered the head coaching role when Winter declined a contract extension last week to go into a 12th season at the helm.

It brings to end the longest coaching stint in the TSL, and Brown is well aware of the hole left by one of the league’s most colourful and controversial characters.

“It was mixed emotions when ‘ Windy’ ( Winter) phoned me last Monday morning to tell me he was resigning,” Brown said.

“I didn’t actually believe him to start with … then when I came back with a ‘ are you sure?’ he choked up and got emotional on the phone and I realised the good thing we had had the last five years was coming to an end.

“I was a bit sad to start with but 24 hours later I spoke to the club and they offered me the position, that turns into excitement pretty quickly.

“It was tough on Friday night at the awards night, he pretty much did his farewell speech at the end and then they asked me to speak last.

“After Windy got a standing ovation for his speech I felt like somebody getting announced in the starting line up after LeBron James, it was an instant downer.

“There is no illusions I’ve got big shoes to fill, Windy is probably the biggest name in Tasmanian football not just in recent times but for a long time.

“I will certainly try and put my own footprint at the club, but obviously take on board a lot of things I learned from him along the way.”

Coaching at State League level is not foreign to Brown — he was at North Hobart in 2010 and for the first nine rounds of 2011 before falling out with the board — and was interim coach at the Bombers for the first six rounds of 2018 following Winter’s suspension from the previous year’s grand final.

Brown has no doubt he has grown since his days at the Demons.

“Absolutely, I would be kidding myself if I didn’t say I had.

“I was a lot younger then and had really only been an assistant for probably a year up in Burnie.

“This time I have had five years working with Darren. We have certainly had a lot of ups and downs in that time to learn how he handles those things and the pressure there and how he dealt with that.”