Brisbane Boys College appoints ex-Aussie and Queensland coach
A record breaking Australian cricket coach has been appointed the First XI mentor at a GPS private school - a remarkable coup adding further to the coaching star power of the schoolboy competition.
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A record breaking Australian cricket coach and Queensland Sport Hall of Fame inductee has been appointed Brisbane Boys College First XI coach for the 2023 season.
John Buchanan, who coached Australia (1999-2007) through unprecedented periods of Test and one-day success, joins a college steeped in cricket tradition that has the likes of Chris Hartley, Craig Philipson, Jack Clayton and Bulls rookie on the rise Matt Willans as old boys.
Buchanan, now aged 69, said he was excited to coach in a competition he once played in as an all-rounder for The Southport School (1969-70), including as a premiership winner.
“Our goal is to make this program the envy of any school program, not only in Queensland, but in Australia ,’’ said Buchanan, who played seven matches for Queensland in the late 1970s after winning two competition Player of the Year awards from the University of Queensland club.
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Buchanan, who first rose to fame by coaching Queensland to its historic first ever Sheffield Shield in 1994-95, said he wanted the BBC First XI squad to have the “best possible skills’’.
“I coached club cricket (Wests) a couple of seasons back for a few seasons and it seemed to me the further into the younger ages you go, the better chance you have of developing the skills that they can take forward into club cricket, and then into representative cricket,’’ Buchanan said.
“It is about making sure they (the youth) have the best possible skills from this age group to move into the next level.’’
BBC’s 2023 captain Jamie Alexander said being coached by Buchanan was an “amazing opportunity for our boys and the BBC cricket community as a whole’’.
“His success as a coach is second to none and the boys are excited to tap into that wealth of knowledge that has seen his teams dominate competitions,’’ he said.
“We look forward to benefiting from his outstanding analytical skills to improve our technical side, but even more so, we know his experience in sharpening the mental aspects of our game will help each of us become the best cricketers we can be.’’
Buchanan’s coaching career started in England in 1979 with Oldham (Central Lancashire league) who he coached to the League double for the first time in 40 years.
But it was in his first season as coach of Queensland in 1994-95 that Buchanan rose into the spotlight as a coach, guiding the Bulls to its first ever Shield win since joining the competition in 1926-27.
Queensland winning the Shield had been considered the Holy Grail of sport and sparked wild celebrations around the state.
Under Buchanan’s coaching, Queensland then won another Shield two seasons later, and also two one-day competitions before he was appointed national coach.
During his reign, Australia had two record breaking blocks of 15 and then 16 consecutive wins, three World Cup victories and a cherished 5-nil Ashes win over England.
Buchanan’s arrival in the prestigious GPS competition enhances a competition already brimming with high profile, successful past players and coaches.
The Honour Roll of 2023 GPS First XI coaches includes:
Terry Oliver (Nudgee head coach): Oliver followed in the footsteps of Buchanan and Bennett King – both two-time Shield winners – by coaching Queensland to its fifth Sheffield Shield during the Bulls golden era between 1994 and 2004.
Oliver is also responsible for helping prepare an array of outstanding young Nudgee players for Bulls Masters first grade cricket, including the likes of all-rounder Noah McFadyen (Norths) who scored a century last weekend, Kallum Russell (Toombul) who took five wickets last round, Mitchell Pascoe (Sandgate Redcliffe) and fast bowling Tom Balkin (Toombul).
The Director of coaching at Nudgee is also the high profile Tim Lang, a former South Australian Shield player and NSW T20 fast bowler.
Peter Drinnen (Churchie head coach): Churchie mentor Peter Drinnen is a former Queensland wicketkeeper whose first class career unfortunately coincided with that of the great Ian Healy (BSHS old boy) and the talented (Peter Anderson, Churchie old boy).
During his brief Shield career, Drinnen scored an important 74 runs in one innings. His vast coaching career included coaching Scotland and Netherlands.
Brett Henschell (Ipswich Grammar School): Henschell was a veteran of more than 60 Sheffield Shield games for his state, initially playing in the 1981-82 season as a batting all-rounder.
He scored five first class hundreds, but also developed his off-spin and was a perfect support bowler to the Bulls powerhouse fast bowling line-ups of that era.
As a coach he started his own Academy.
Steve Baker (The Southport School): Baker was an outstanding club gloveman who was unlucky not to play Sheffield Shield cricket in an era when Queensland also had Ian Healy, Peter Anderson and Drinnen as options.
The GPS First XI premiership winning coach has been responsible for bringing some of Queensland’s best young players through the system, including the likes of recent state players Mathew Kuhnemann, Xavier Bartlett, Jack Sinfield and Hugo Burdon who is certain to play Shield cricket.
Trevor Irvine (Brisbane Grammar School): Director of coaching at BGS, Irvine and head coach Pete Steindl oversaw BGS’s remarkable 2022 First XI premiership win.
Irvine, along with the Steindl and Hugh Weibgen (Valley) as captain, took BGS from battlers in 2020 to its first premiership since 2013 when Bulls ace Matt Renshaw, outstanding Western Suburbs all-rounder Paddy Dooley and South Brisbane representative batsman Aryan Jain were in the team.
Steindl was of course coach of Wests which won last season’s Bulls Masters two-day first grade competition earlier this year.
As a player, Irvine was a member of the powerful Valley Cricket Club (mid-1990s-2000s) where he had the distinction of being a first grade premiership winner.
A top order batsman, he had the thrill of batting with Australian opening great Matthew Hayden on a number of occasions, and was a Valley teammate of Henschell (the IGS coach mentioned above) and decorated Bulls fast bowler Joe Dawes.
A former First XI coach at St Columban’s College, Irvine has been coach or director of cricket at BGS for the last eight years.
Peter McGiffin (BSHS): BSHS also has a decorated coach as its First XI mentor, Peter McGiffin, who has been both a head coach and assistant coach of the Queensland Fire and WBBL Heat side.
Balir Copelin (Gregory Terrace): Head of Cricket, Copelin was a powerful right-hand opening batsman for Redland Tigers whom he later coached.
Copelin has overseen the development of countless excellent young cricketers during his time at Terrace and in club land - including bayside juniors Marnus Labuschagne, Jimmy Peirson, Sam Heazlett, current Bulls assistant coach Greg Moller, former Bulls and current Pathways NSW cricket Alex Kemp.
Copelin will oversee cricket at Terrace, with the First XI coaches two old boys.
Patrick Collins, a former Wests premiership captain and GPS premiership winner with Terrace in 2004, played three seasons in the First XI.
Another coach at Terrace is Tom O’Malley, an Old Boy and four time second grade premiership captain from Norths.
Ben Schuhmacher (Toowoomba Grammar School): TGS again has Ben Schuhmacher as its First XI Head Coach after TGS gave opponents plenty of cheek last season during a spirited campaign. Schuhmacher was a first grade premiership winner as head coach of Valley where he played with distinction.
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