COACHING JOURNEY

Q And so to life as a coach. How have you found the experience so far?

A There’s a lot to learn, that’s for sure. Sometimes I wish I could just put the boots back on and run out with the boys when they’re struggling a little bit and try to give them that bit of guidance. But part of coaching is that boys have to learn from their experience so you just hope you can give them that experience as quickly as possible. Every single session I go to I’m learning but it’s really enjoyable. I’m constantly thinking about football and tactics. I think I’m quite a positive person in general so with football you’ve got to be positive, really work hard, be focused and support the players you’re looking after. I’m quite confident we’ve got a good group there (at United). The board have done a great job and given me that space to find the players I want to find.

Q Do you have aspirations to coach in the A-League, or anywhere professionally, one day?

A It’s one of those things where I always wanted to coach and I’ve only been doing it a few months really. I just want to learn as much as I can, study it, work hard and do the best I can and that was the way I used to think about football when I played. You only do three nights a week (at training) and the game but it’s something I think about constantly during the day with sessions and planning and tactics and the opposition. I want to try to develop as a coach and if it’s going well and there’s opportunities to progress down the track it’s definitely something I would look at.