AFL Outer East: Tigers on the hunt for new senior coach
The Tigers are on the hunt for a new coach following the departure of Adam Parker. Club president Craig Waters details what the club is looking for, and how it plans to navigate its search among the COVID-19 landscape.
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Upwey-Tecoma must find a new senior coach following the departure of Adam Parker.
Parker recently landed the gig at Eastern powerhouse Vermont, after the coronavirus crisis put paid to any plans the dual premiership Eagle had of steering the AFL Outer East Premier Division outfit this season.
Upwey-Tecoma president Craig Waters said that the club hopes to build on the progress Parker made with the playing group, despite not overseeing the Tigers in an official match.
“We’ve tried with Adam to lift and alter the way we go about playing – a bit more relevant to modern football,” Waters said.
“We’re looking for somebody who has those modern ideas and thoughts and he was a good teacher and that’s something that was pretty evident in a short space of time.
“He is a teacher by trade but he is a very good teacher (in football) and the players really appreciated that.”
Waters said while the current Melbourne six-week lockdown has put the club’s search for a new coach on hold, it would take its time to weigh up its options.
“We’re just taking a breath, we’ll monitor what options will come about,” Waters said.
“Obviously there’s still going to be some fallout from some AFL clubs, VFL clubs in terms of assistant coaches and those things and they might also present some opportunities.
“While we would like to bed it down in a hurry, we’d also like to make sure we get to the right answer in the end.
“We’re just on a little pause at the moment while we get ourselves through the COVID world, and probably in the next few weeks we’ll start being a bit more active.”
The Tigers’ boss said his club backed the outgoing coach in his move back to the Eastern Football League
“The situation is not ideal that we’ve lost Adam – he showed himself to be an exemplary coach … he’s got an opportunity that’s his dream job, and we wish him every success with that – we’re behind him,” Waters said.
“We think Adam has started a process that we want to be able to continue on with, (and) we think there’ll be some people out there, probably more than normal, who might have some interest in coaching at lower levels.
“I think a lot of people have got a lot on their mind at the moment … and we’ll just give everybody some breathing space at the moment before we push forward.”