By Nick Creely
AFL VICTORIA COMMUNITY CHAMPIONSHIPS
SEFNL v YARRA RANGES REVIEW – THE WINNING COACH
It was one of the days that reaffirmed to South East coach Rhys Nisbet just how much he loves the art of coaching.
That feeling of players, support staff, coaches and fans buying into the task ahead is something all coaches crave. And when the results go the right way, it makes the achievement all the sweeter.
In one of the more significant days the South East has faced against a competition they will be merged with in 2019, the former Berwick premiership coach relished the challenge, guiding his side to a 36 point win.
“It was an itch I wanted to scratch the coaching, it’s still there – with the young family it’s a bit hard to get back involved, so it was a great honour to be asked, and I jumped at it,” he said.
“I’ve really enjoyed the last six weeks – I’ve had a lot of support from my support staff in Todd Devine, Robbie Taylor, Darren Dwyer and Stuart Batten, guys that have bought into it, it was a really good honour to have this role.”
Bragging rights were at the forefront for Nisbet and his South East team, who were looking to make a statement amidst the emotion and likeliness that it will be the last time the competition competes in interleague in its current state.
“We did speak about it (being the last game as South East) briefly before the game – it’s a great honour to be involved in the last year of it, it’s also a real shame, we’re going to lose some relationships potentially which is something weighing on my mind,” he said.
“I think we did (make a statement) winning by six goals – it would have been nice to finish off with a couple more, and that took the fizz out of it a little bit.
“Whatever happens next year, we made a statement to say we’re the benchmark, and try and catch us.”
Nisbet was left impressed with the Yarra Ranges’ endeavour throughout what was an absorbing contest.
“I thought it was an even contest at times, their top sides are like us, it’s a very good standard and they probably proved they can match it with us at times,” he said.
As for his side, the usual suspects in champions Michael Collins, Marc Holt, Michael Riseley, Brad Scazlo and Madi Andrews exerted a mighty influence, but praised some of the upcoming talent in the league, most of who featured at the representative level for the first time.
“Mitchy Cotter is just a little ball hunter, his desire to win the footy is better than most, and Jesse (Davies) is extremely composed, always looks like he has time, and Mitch Cox was fantastic, he kept getting the footy and worked really hard. It was also a first game for Timmy Gunn, Luke Sheppard and Ryan Jones, and they adapted no worries at all,” Nisbet said.
