Barwon Heads co-coach Mitch Herbison reveals Matt Scarlett impact

New Barwon Heads co-coach Mitch Herbison has revealed the impact a coaching addition had on the club in the early days of the club’s premiership defence.

Picture: Alison Wynd

NEW Barwon Heads co-coach Mitch Herbison has revealed how the Seagulls landed former Cats legend Matt Scarlett to join the club as an assistant.

The former Geelong full back will work alongside the defensive group at the reigning premiers, as well as sharing his AFL-level expertise with the playing group.

Herbison said Scarlett was enticed by the job at Barwon Heads “over a couple of beers”.

“James (Garvey) and ‘Scarlo’ were a bit of a packaged deal in a way,” he said.

“We were all sitting around having a couple of beers one night and we spoke about the opportunity.

“They had been around the club a little, going to a few games, so naturally they were pretty keen at the start and their interest grew from there.

“We eventually sat down more formally later on, and once everything was formalised for Sam (Schaller) and I, they committed to coming on board as assistant coaches.”

Matt Scarlett was an assistant coach at Geelong in 2021. Picture: Nathan Dyer

Herbison will co-coach alongside Sam Schaller in 2023, with the gun forward set to take the coaching reigns for the second time at Barwon Heads after coaching the club to its 2019 premiership.

Schaller is no stranger to the set up at Barwon Heads either, having worked as the senior team’s opposition analyst in 2022 as well as junior coaching at the club.

Herbison said Scarlett would be a “massive help” to the co-coaches in 2023.

“He’s been huge for us since pre-season kicked off, he missed the first week with travel but he hasn’t missed a session since then,” he said.

“The playing group has really enjoyed using him as a sounding board and he’s obviously got some great ideas and knowledge for local footy.

“Everyone’s loving having him involved, both he and Garvey have got amazing football brains.

“I think Sam and I have a really strong team around us, but also we’ve spent so much time working together already that we know how we want our game to look and how we want to play.

“Having that connection already absolutely helps us out heading into the season, we’ve been on the same page from the start about how we want the team to look when we play.”

Originally published as Barwon Heads co-coach Mitch Herbison reveals Matt Scarlett impact