2014 EFL Pre-Season Wiki | Tomorrow: Montrose
by Nick Brown (@nickbbrown)
JOHN Brown was at the helm of Templestowe, a club with more than 120 years of history and one he coached to premiership glory in 2010.
Why did he leave? What was so attractive about Park Orchards to lure Brown across?
Why take on a club that is heading into just its third season of senior football?
“It’s a young talented team that is on the way up and plays a positive, attacking and exciting brand of football,” the premiership coach answered.
And for anyone that walks away after watching the Sharks play in 2014, that’s how he hopes they will describe them as well.
Yet, as talented and exciting as his new team might be, Brown knows it is also reasonably young and inexperienced. It was something he was well aware of when signing on.
With time, the Sharks’ young-brigade will grow older and gain valuable experience, especially under the guidance of Brown.
Having coached senior football for close to a decade, Brown is confident he can develop the young list and help them reach their full potential.
“With this group and the club, it is not about a quick fix, it’s about the next five to 10 years,” Brown said.
“I might not still be here then, but I have a duty of care to make sure the group is taking the right steps in the next 24 months at least.
“And this group is thirsty for education. They’re like sponges at the moment. They’re on a steep learning curve and thirsty to develop and get better.
“What has stood out to me the most is how hard they’re prepared to work.”
The Sharks might be a young developing side, but Brown wanted to make it clear he and the club would not be using that as an excuse.
The Sharks’ coach is of the belief his new side is not just going to be making up the numbers in 2014.
“We know what we want to do and we’ll strive to do that and we’ll strive to improve. We’ll be taking the players out of their comfort zones,” Brown said.
“We aren’t going to just sit back and be the new kids on the block. And we won’t be accepting honorable losses. As a coaching group and players, we’ll be looking to earn the respect of the opposition and once we play them we will have that respect.
“We’ll start by aiming to win more games than last year and if the boys can do that then hopefully they can taste finals.”
In a bid to make sure the Sharks are a finals chance, Brown and the club knew it had to inject some experience senior players. And that’s what they did.
Making the trip from Templestowe to Park Orchards with Brown will be the premiership trio of Tim Raines, Matt Flemming and Aaron Chambers.
Chambers will be a playing-assistant coach.
Other key signings include Justin Minogue (South Croydon), Thomas Johnston (Eltham) and Tom and Andy Harley (Old Carey).
“This group is not too far off the mark. To take them to the next step, we just needed to bring in some older guys to strengthen the list,” he said.
“I guess some of the key prerequisites were that we wanted senior players with 75 games-plus experience, who also had finals success. That way those players can instill that experience and success into this playing group.
“We looked at the spine when recruiting and we know we have a full-forward, centre half forward, centre half-back and on ballers. So we have definitely had more ins than outs. There will be certain players not playing for various reasons, but none going to other clubs.”
Though there is something Park Orchards had before Brown’s arrival: the Sharks’ success at junior level.
Brown has no doubt it will also play a big part in this group playing senior finals.
“There are a lot of young kids coming through that have been very successful in the juniors and have come through a successful junior system,” he said.
“The Under 19’s have won two of their three Grand Finals, so we want to teach them how to take that success from the juniors through to the seniors.
“And the depth is certainly fantastic, not just at junior level, but we have been getting extraordinary numbers at training.”
At this stage, Park Orchards looks to be putting together a promising and exciting list with a bright future.
“This group isn’t far off the mark. It’s an exciting group and hopefully there is a lot of success for them in 2014,” Brown said.
“That’s not just for the coaches and players, but for the founding members that have been there from the start as well.”