Daffy takes up prime Falcons coaching role
NEW Geelong Falcons coach Luke Daffy has praised the work of outgoing mentor Daniel O’Keefe after landing the plum role yesterday afternoon.
Daffy worked closely with O’Keefe — who has taken up a role with the Geelong VFL side — over the past two years and was his right-hand man in the 2017 premiership.
While he said he would apply his own coaching philosophies and incorporate his background in education, Daffy said he owed much of his development to O’Keefe.
“I definitely learnt a lot from ‘DOK’ and have been really lucky to work with him because he has had a big focus not only on player development but also coach development and he has supported me along the way and gave me the opportunity to be head coach for a couple of games in 2018,” Daffy said.
“He is a fantastic coach, so for me I’m looking to bring a bit of education side of things, which is my profession during the week, and to build an environment for the kids to come in and be able to continue to learn. That is the philosophy for me, that I want the kids to come in with the right mindset to improve and develop, and it tends to be that the kids that come with that mindset tend to go pretty well and get to the next level.”
The Falcons finished in 10th spot on the TAC Cup ladder this year but could have as many as six players selected in the upcoming national and rookie drafts.
Daffy said while winning matches of footy was clearly one of his objectives, ensuring the continued development of players in the Falcons program was paramount.
“Being involved in the program for quite a while now, from an outside point of view people can look at wins and losses but our core business is to get players to continue to improve and develop to play at the next level,” he said.
“In saying that, the fact is that not a large amount of kids will go on and play AFL footy, but at the end of it if we can make them better players than what they were when they came into the program, and better people, then we have done a pretty good job.”