Dave Benigno discusses his exit from Gold Coast Premier League club Nerang & his coaching future

AN honest Dave Benigno admits he struggled to deal with conflicting priorities in his sole season with Gold Coast Premier League club Nerang but has not ruled out continuing his coaching career elsewhere in 2020.

AN honest Dave Benigno admits he struggled to deal with conflicting priorities in his sole season with Gold Coast Premier League club Nerang but has not ruled out continuing his coaching career elsewhere in 2020.

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A grand final winner with Surfers Paradise in 2016, Benigno brought with him expectations of immediate Premier League success when he arrived at Glennon Park late last year.

Those hopes only intensified when he signed a slew of high-profile players – highlighted by Tolga Yorulmaz and Kazuma Kobayashi – but the Eagles never truly got going in 2019 as injuries and inconsistency left them one spot outside the top four.

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Having now parted ways with the club, Benigno said juggling Premier League ambition with the club’s youth focus – driven by the Academy of Football Australia based at Nerang – had also hurt their campaign.

“I haven’t left on any bad note, it was just the transition between the academy and the integration of the academy boys into senior football (that was tough),” Benigno said.

Dave Benigno in Nerang colours earlier this year. Picture: Luke Sorensen

“It’s a difficult process amalgamating academy kids who don’t want to stay in the Premier League. It’s difficult when they’ve got aspirations to go off to the UK or US - I lost 11 players mid-year.

“I just couldn’t work with what was at hand but that’s not to say that someone who’s used to academy-style coaching couldn’t make it work and hats off to them. It’s me more being stuck to my olds ways in not being used to deal with the inconsistency of players being available.

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“I’m used to having a 40-man squad and it doesn’t change unless it’s injury-based. You only have to look at the runs on the board at Broadbeach and what I achieved at Surfers – when you have stability and can mould players into the squad you want (there’s success).”

Now weighing up his options for next year, Benigno stressed his position was not a criticism of the AFA and said he still considered the season a success.

“We got 10 wins and two draws and to do that with a bunch of 15, 16, 17-year-old kids (was positive). I thought we had a good year with what I had to work with,” he said.

“The expectation was more to do with the public. I knew it was going to be difficult using young kids that hadn’t been bled into senior football properly.

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“I think what Gary Scott’s doing with these kids is great. I’ve been involved in football on the Gold Coast for 30 years and there’s not been a platform that has offered these kids on the Coast these opportunities.

“I’ve been approached by three clubs (about next year) and I don’t know what I’m going to do, to be honest. I was happy to have a permanent rest ahead of 2020 but as days go by (things might change).”