By Tash Gunawardana
In his first year as North Ringwood coach, ex North Melbourne and Richmond small forward, Robbie Nahas is encouraging his side to play attractive football and to have fun.
A hopeful North Ringwood will set their sights on stringing more wins together this season, following on from a disappointing 2019, where they only managed to win three game, as they finished ninth.
Despite under pressure to remain in the Premier Division, the Saints have stayed quiet on the recruiting front, preferring to stay true to the experienced players who have returned and hope they will help bring success to the club.
“We haven’t really gone on a massive recruiting drive, at the moment we’ve just got guys who have come back,” Robbie Nahas said.
“We have got Dylan Van Unen who has been at Port Melbourne for a decade, and he has come back to his local club.
“He adds experience to the coaching role as well as playing.”
As well as Van Unen returning, Harvey Chin (Port Melbourne), Joel Nathan (Richmond) and Riley Smith (Collingwood) have returned to the Saints from the VFL.
“We have not really gone out and gotten any players, we have bought players back and gives us a chance to get them in a preseason,” Nahas said.
“We want to make sure we get that growth (from)within the team we have already.”
“We retained our whole core, as well as our majority senior list,” Nahas said.
Joining Nahas on his coaching panel will be Mark Sandilands (Senior Assistant), Dylan Van Unen (Playing Senior Assistant) and Jamie Redfern (Reserves Coach).
After playing in the AFL and VFL for many years, Nahas said he went down the coaching path because he wanted to see the game from a coach’s perspective.
“I have always been a student of the game, especially someone with my size, I always had to think two steps ahead,” he said.
“I was always pretty intrigued in how the game was set up and the best way to play it.
“I love seeing guys improve and it’s rewarding to see that you implement something, and you see it come to plan on the field, so I have really enjoyed that.”
Nahas was lucky to be coached by some famous names in Australian Rules Football such as three time Richmond premiership coach Damien Hardwick, long time North Melbourne tutor Brad Scott and Port Melbourne premiership coach Gary Ayres.
Nahas has signed on for 2021
“You learn by seeing and (I was) lucky enough to see good coaches go at it and it gives me the ability to see how they break down the game and go about it,” he said.
Nahas wants to coach an attractive brand of football that gets the fans through the gates.
“I don’t have a goal when it comes to finish on a certain part of the ladder,” he said.
“I haven’t played much at local football, so I’ve come in with sort of a blank canvas of what I expect, but I expect guys to be competitive, to have enjoyment and to play a brand that is enjoyable to watch.”
“It’s a great feeling around the club and it’s a real local feel about it too,” Nahas said.
“Everyone’s from the area and the guys really want to play for the jumper, and they are not chasing money, they are there to play for North Ringwood.
“I think that’s a massive drawing card for me and you want guys who are loyal to the club, the area and the team and you can see that already at training.”
North Ringwood women’s coach, Jules Hanson is excited as he does not know what to expect from his team after jumping up two divisions to the premier league.
“We were standouts before my time winning the flag but jumping up two divisions is a fair step up and we don’t know really to expect,” Hanson said.
“So, the goal is maybe to win a couple of games along the way to gauge where we’re at and the girls to enjoy themselves and for the club to grow in the women’s area.”
PHOTO CREDIT: North Ringwood Football Club
A great initiative has been implemented by the Saints, a women’s coaching mentoring program.
“We are building a coaching mentoring program for long term sustainability,” Hanson said.
“What we are looking at is putting in a mentoring program, we will get them (the participants) mentored from the senior men’s coach, some formal coaching training and some mentoring from myself and we’re looking at older players coming towards the end of their career who have an appetite in the coaching sides of things.
“So, we can keep sustaining the coaching stocks in the women’s competition.”
North Ringwood commences its Premier Division season against Norwood in Round One (April 17) at Quambee Reserve, while the women’s fixture is yet to be finalised at time of writing.