Kemperman’s golden run

Berwick coach Stewart Kemperman belts out the song with his players after his second consecutive premiership. 185297 Picture: ROB CAREW

By Nick Creely

 

Now a two-time Berwick premiership coach, it would be a fair assumption that Stewart Kemperman has been around the senior coaching caper for a long time.

Some coaches are lucky to guide their side to the pinnacle of football once, while others never get to savour the sweet moment of holding a premiership cup aloft.

Kemperman – a Noble Park legend – now has two premiership medallions as a senior coach, in just two years after retiring from football.

He coaches with a calmness that brings out the best in his players, and understands the modern game better than anyone.

With still so much growing to do as a 34-year-old senior coach, his premiership record in such a small amount of time is a rare, almost inconceivable record for the humble man at the helm of one of the great teams in the south-east.

“I’m obviously happy, but I’m really proud of the guys – they’re incredible, a great bunch of blokes,” an emotional Kemperman said in the rooms after the grand final.

“I’m privileged to coach these guys, I really am, and I don’t take that for granted.”

On Saturday, his Wickers joined the great teams of 1977/78 to claim back-to-back premierships in a 51-point win over Narre Warren, something not lost on Kemperman as he reflects on what this premiership win means to his club.

“I was a bit emotional on the bench late in the game, to be honest, and I’m absolutely over the moon. It’s a wonderful feeling,” he said.

“For them to get the result, not only for me, but for Glenn (Gambetta) after the game is incredible – he does an enormous amount of work for our football club.

“As a president with a small committee, it’s great we can get the win for them and the club, it’s really, really pleasing.

“Seeing the supporters, and the delight it brings to them, and seeing the emotion that it brings our amazing president, and everyone that works so hard and puts in so much work, that’s what gives me the most satisfaction as the coach.

“For me, looking around the room and seeing all the smiles, it’s the culmination of all the hard work that’s been done around the place, that’s why I do it, and that’s why I will continue to do it in the future.”

As a coach, Kemperman has certainly inherited a powerful list that includes names such as Travis Tuck, Madi Andrews, Bryce Rutherford, Harrison Money, Michael Riseley, Lucas Jellyman-Turner, Brody Connelly and James Magner.

But the 34-year-old has shaped a talented bunch of players that won a 2015 premiership under Rhys Nisbet into an impenetrable, well drilled side that benefits from his forward thinking and incredible tactical nous as a coach.

But Kemperman heaped praise on his premiership side, and said that seeing the players, and all their hard work, come to fruition with the grandest prize of all, means the world to him.

“The most happiness I get as a coach is seeing the players I coach happy with the success of one another,” he said.

“I’m privileged to coach an amazing bunch of young men – I’ll never slide away from the fact of how privileged I truly am.

“In time I’ll look back and be extremely proud – I’m incredibly proud of what we’ve been able to achieve in the last couple of years, and I’m extremely thankful for the opportunity I get to coach this wonderful club.”