By RUSSELL BENNETT
THE Casey Cardinia football coaching jigsaw appears complete, with Hampton Park appointing Gembrook Cockatoo favourite son Matt O’Neil to its senior role.
After an exhaustive process that began before the end of the 2013 season, the Redbacks are confident they’ve found the right man to lead them to a period of sustained success.
O’Neil played over 350 games for the Brookers in the Yarra Valley Mountain District Football League but is remembered as much for being an outstanding clubman as he is a decorated player.
It’s his influence on the Redbacks’ younger players that will be most crucial to the side’s future prospects, but great mate – and fellow Brookers recruit – Andrew Shipp will help him along the way.
The versatile utility, who will undergo a knee reconstruction in December, is expected back for the end of the 2014 season before playing a full 2015.
New Redbacks president John Nunan is thrilled to bring in the two veterans to help drive the culture of the club.
“He’s a guy who we think can really look after our young talent,” Nunan said of the 39-year-old O’Neil.
“We’re very happy with the appointment.
“We’re the last to appoint a coach and we spoke to plenty of other candidates but we believe we have the home-grown young talent to take us into the future and Matt sees that.”
Shipp, who is reportedly tossing up between having a LARS or traditional knee reconstruction, was drafted by Fremantle after his role in Springvale’s 1998 premiership.
He returned to Gembrook in 2004 and played a key role, alongside O’Neil, in the Brookers’ flag.
Nunan indicated the Redbacks weren’t necessarily after a hard-nosed style from their next coach, but rather one who could nurture their young list and they see O’Neil – who retired from playing in 2011 – as an ideal fit.
“Matt is very aware it’s not about instant success,” Nunan said.
“We’re after prolonged success.”
He estimated the side would be looking to make the finals in two to three years, but knows that would be a far cry from the back-to-back nightmare seasons of 2012 and 2013 in which the Redbacks were constantly flogged and won just one game – total.
Nunan said the “silver lining” from a horror past two seasons was that the club had identified a key group of potentially long-term senior players, with the average age of the playing list in the low-20s.
But he added that, despite signing Shipp, the Redbacks weren’t about to headhunt more senior Brookers players.
“We’re not out to raid other clubs,” he said.
“I despise that.
“We don’t want to see that happen anywhere – we certainly won’t be raiding anyone.”
Nunan said what stood out most about O’Neil through the interview process was his brutal honesty.
“He’s nearly as straight a talker as I’ve ever come across,” Nunan said.
“He knows the position we’re in – there’s no doubt about that.”
The president described O’Neil as the combination of a gun player, coach and clubman and has given him the undertaking that the Redbacks want him at the helm for the long-term.
