DEMON DAYS
Surfers’ faith in their own paves path to QAFL glory
THE lure of developing homegrown talent drew Surfers Paradise senior coach Brad Moore to the role and it’s the reason he believes the Demons have become a QAFL premiership contender.
“There are a lot of homegrown talent with our club and that is what drew me to the club first and foremost,” Moore (pictured) said ahead of the grand final against Palm Beach Currumbin at Metricon Stadium on Saturday.
“It has been great watching their development and rise over the past couple of years. We put a lot of time and effort into our own and at the moment we have been rewarded with a grand final appearance.”
Meanwhile, PBC’s flag hopes received a boost on Tuesday night when veteran midfielder Jason Burge escaped suspension for the grand final.
THE lure of developing homegrown talent drew Surfers Paradise senior coach Brad Moore to the role and it’s the reason he believes the Demons have become a QAFL premiership contender.
When Moore was approached about filling the void left by former Demons senior coach Peter Young at the end of 2016, he had been out of senior coaching for three years and was enjoying coaching his son’s under-12 team at the club.
Moore had previously spent time as Labrador’s reserves coach in 2011, was co-coach with Tim Notting in 2012 and held the role by himself in 2013.
Surfers had just come off a 2016 season where they finished fifth and was knocked out in the first week of finals when Moore stepped into the role.
A seventh-place finish in 2017 was followed by a topfour spot and semi-final appearance in 2018.
The Demons have progressed again in 2019, finishing second on the ladder and earning a spot in the grand final where they will meet Palm Beach Currumbin at Metricon Stadium on Saturday.
Moore said the club’s philosophy of developing and using homegrown talent in the state league was something he bought in to.
“There are a lot of homegrown talent with our club and that is what drew me to the club first and foremost,” Moore said. “It has been great watching their development and rise over the past couple of years.
“We have got ourselves into a grand final which is a fantastic achievement.
“We are not overly financial compared to other teams and we don’t go out and recruit heavily.
“We put a lot of time and effort into our own and at the moment we have been rewarded with a grand final appearance.
“Some might say we got there faster than expected but that is a credit to the playing group. They have embraced everything I have put forward to them and taken it all onboard and they are really keen to keep on improving on a weekly basis but also on a weekly basis.”