By Callum Ludwig
Aspiring footy tacticians seeking a fresh pasture and new challenge can look no further than the Yarra Glen Football Netball club for an opportunity to take the reins in 2023.
Having come to the decision to part ways at the end of the season, 2022 Senior Coach Wayne Van Der Ross departed on a high following the River Pigs’ recent win over Belgrave, with assistant coaches Anthony Harman and Patty Hayes sharing the coaching duties for the last two games.
President Vinny Erickson said it was time to put a line through the sand and make a fresh start.
“We left the decision up to Wayne as to when he left, as he was committed to staying out the season. Then we had the win against Belgrave and he said ‘Vinny, this is it’ and I said, ‘Well, it’s perfect timing to go out with the win.’,” he said.
“He’s been really good to the club and taught the boys a lot, his commitment to the club was second to none. Any coach who took up a job at a club after Covid had a pretty tough gig.”
A Seniors coach is not the only position available, with availabilities for the Reserves, Under 19s and Under 17s positions too as the club decides to reset and rejuvenate ahead of the 2023 season.
Mr Erickson said the high priority is a senior coach with experience coaching before.
“We want someone who is going to be able to attract players to add to our list, recruitment of players will be really important,” he said.
“Obviously, we want someone who is also going to be able to fit into our culture down there as well.”
Yarra Glen is set to finish sixth in AFL Outer East Division One with four wins from their 16 games to date in an injury-hit season. They have two remaining matches against Berwick Springs and Gembrook-Cockatoo before a bye in the final round to close out the 2022 season.
Mr Erickson said even though they may not have won as many games as they would’ve liked, it’s still been a pretty successful year.
“It’s given us a bit of a learning curve of what moving up a division is about and what you need. I think that’s been really good for us to get that under our belt and not finish on the bottom of the ladder or get relegated straight back down because that helps nobody,” he said.
“We have huge injury issues this year, particularly with probably our top 10 players and our captain out for eight or nine weeks at the start of the season which is a huge loss. Probably only twice this year we’ve had our best list out on the park.”
The club is open to playing and non-playing coaches, who are able to work with the current list and attract new recruits to the club.
Mr Erickson said they will likely touch base with ex-Yarra Glen juniors who have been playing elsewhere.
“To try to get kids back to the club is always top of our list, the players who came back to us this year played a lot of senior games, which is great,” he said.
“Having those players around, it’s more personal for them playing for their home club, they’re passionate about it, want to see the club succeed and take a lot of ownership of it.”
Remuneration for the Senior coach will depend on previous experience and qualifications.
All applications can be sent to yarraglenfnc@gmail.com or call President Vinny Erickson at 0431 680 990 or Footy Manager Richard Gurney at 0431 326 715. The closing date for applications is Wednesday 14 September.
