ALL three of Avondale Heights’ Saturday sides combined for only 10 wins from 54 games in 2016.
It wasn’t a great result for a club that not so long ago was a genuine Premier Division contender.
Daniel Archer stepped down as senior coach after just one year at the helm and the outlook got a bit gloomier with plenty of noise surrounding the future of star forward Patrick Rose, who was destined to join Deer Park.
But it seems the club has turned a corner, re-signing Rose for two more years and securing the services of ex-AFL ruckman, Cam Wood.
Last week the club then confirmed Rick Horwood, a coach that comes with impressive credentials, as its new senior coach for seasons 2017 & 2018.
And on the recruiting front, there’s plenty more to come, too.
We sat down with the new Avondale Heights coach, who is ready to embrace his new challenge in a familiar league.
It was a fair ride at Sunbury in the Ballarat League. Was it just time for a change?
Horwood: Yeah, six years as senior coach at one club is pretty unheard of, so I was pretty keen to leave them in a good spot and move on. Coaches don’t get a chance to leave on their own terms, so I just thought it was the right time to move on and it opens up a new challenge.
Now you’re back in the EDFL ranks coaching one of our more fascinating clubs in Premier Division, so what attracted you to this job?
Yeah, it does feel like you’re coming home. This is obviously one of the premier metropolitan leagues and it’s going to be a great challenge. It’s not going to be easy because it’s a really good standard of footy, but I’m really looking forward to it.
It’s massive to have Patty Rose back for two more years and Cam Wood was already signed, but there are a couple leaving as well. What’s your early read on what sort of list you’ve got to work with?
I’ve been working with Charlie Cuzzupi (Football Operations Manager) and he’s done a hell of a lot of work off the field and he’s probably got about 90 per cent of the players from last year re-committed. We’ll let out a couple more (new recruits) in due course when we get their signatures. I’ve had a look back at 2016 and they lost five games by two kicks, they had a pretty heavy injury toll and 14 players from their regular list were injured so looking at that, and it’s such a tough competition, you’ve only got to be a bit off and it hurts you and that’s what happened last year. We’ll take a little look at it and move forward. It’s a fresh new coach and there are a lot of people here in the background that have done a lot tireless work to get the club to where it is now, and typically at this time of year it’s all positive.
Indications are that Daniel Archer will be sticking around…
I haven’t met Arch yet but he’s indicated through Charlie that he’d be happy to stay around with some sort of role at the club.
So will you have some sort of dialogue with him?
Yeah in the next couple of weeks we’ll catch up and unfold a few things and see what he actually wants to do and see if it fits in with my philosophies. The club’s really keen and he’s really keen and I think it’s fantastic that a bloke at his level still wants to be involved.
Has the club indicated the sort of direction it would like to be heading in the next couple of years?
One thing we really need to do is build the depth. That’s probably one of the key components. We won three games in the Reserves and three in the Under 18s and with those 14 injuries, the depth really got exposed.
And that’s not usually a short-term fix…
No but you’ve got to identify it to fix it. I think they identified it last year and made moves to try and fix it, so it’s a long-term thing but that’s probably why they signed me for two years. So we’ll work along those lines
Do you think coaching Avondale Heights given its recent history will come with a little bit of pressure?
I think pressure comes with coaching any senior club, especially here in Premier Division. But that’s part of the excitement and part of the challenge when you accept these jobs. There’s always pressures when you’ve been in the game as long as I have and pressure’s a part of it. It’s part of the reason why I like to coach.
You’ll now be coaching against some good mates at rival clubs…
Yeah I rang Mick (McGuane) on the Friday I got the job only about 20 minutes after I spoke to my wife, because I obviously rate Mick very highly. He was rapt for me and he had a little bit to do with me getting the job, so I’m very grateful.
So what will it be like coaching against someone like that?
I guess it will be like the master against the apprentice… but I look forward to it. He’s very talented and you can see what he did in 2016. I’ve got lots of friends around the league. It’s a shame my old club Airport West is down in Division 1 but I’m just glad to be back in the EDFL. Even though it’s a new club for me, I feel like I’m coming home.
