Cooper’s a trooper
Crocs coach in hot demand chooses to stay right here
AFL PORT Douglas premiership coach Brad Cooper is set to reject offers from southern football clubs and extend his stay at the Crocs into 2017.
Cooper, who led the Crocs to AFL Cairns flags in 2014 and this season, is in the process of recruiting players for next season and will sit down with president Greg Nicholson in the coming days and seal the club’s direction going forward.
Cooper was presented with the Queensland Senior Coach of the Year award before their grand final win over South Cairns and will ignore offers from Victorian clubs as well as a Brisbane-based NEAFL clubs to stay in the Far North.
The focus now turns to the Crocs’ playing-group as Cooper admits “we may lose a handful of premiership players”. The Crocs are a perennially transient club, with only a few players remaining from recent finals campaigns.
Crocs skipper Kye Chapple has previously stated he is keen to play for a third straight season in AFL Cairns.
“It is easier to retain players after you have won a flag,” Cooper said.
“But there are four new guys we are pretty certain we will get for 2017. And hopefully we will get a couple back that have played here previously.
“The guys that played this year always are positive now but in two or three weeks when the offers from Victorian clubs land with big money, it is their choice if they want to head back.
“A few guys we were talking to played in 2013 and 2014, they know what they are getting into.”
Cooper, who took over from Andy Viola at the start of 2012, will take his coaching tenure into its sixth season.
“There is every chance I will go again but I need to see what the club want to do,” Cooper said.
“We need to make sure everyone is comfortable.
“I need to speak to a few people because there is a lot of people around the footy club that make my role easier.”
Nicholson said he would sit down with Cooper soon.
“I will then go to the current committee with ideas of what we are doing going forward,” Nicholson said.
Cairns Saints are the only AFL Cairns club yet to announce their coach for 2017.