Brown proud to coach home team as he prepares to unleash their talent

Jonathan Brown has revealed who will be inspiring his coaching performance for the Hampden league against Ballarat this weekend. He opens up on guiding his hometown competition.

Hampden league intercoach coach Jonathan Brown will be turn to an AFL coach for inspiration on Saturday afternoon.

Brown will lead the Warrnambool-based league when it takes on the Ballarat competition in their first interleague match since 2019.

This year the teams will be filled with under-23 players allowing Brown to take control of some of his hometown’s most exciting local footballers.

“When the league approached me years ago, I jumped at the opportunity,” he said.

“My dad used to coach the Hampden league, so it’s probably carrying a family tradition (to coach).

“The league has been so supportive.”

Brown, who played 255 games for Brisbane and won three AFL premierships, is heavily involved in the game still with his media commitments for Fox Footy.

He’s hoping to model his coaching on one of the rising AFL coaches of the game, Craig McRae.

“I’ll take a leaf out of Craig McRae’s book to be honest, back their instincts in,” he said.

“I want to show their talents, this is their stage. You don’t want interleague to be dour and defensive.

“We’ve got a good side, especially the midfield group. (This is) one of the tallest teams but we’ve got elite skill level and we can run.

“They are the sides you want for interleague. We’ll be encouraging them to back themselves in and hopefully a few things will flow.”

This will be the fourth time Jonathan Brown has coached Hampden. Picture: Supplied.

Brown had his first chance to be with the squad on Thursday night when he took control at training.

The squad not only has Brown involved but some of the best coaches and talent in the Hampden league.

Former AFL premiership player and North Warrnambool’s Nathan Vardy is coaching the midfield with Hampden coaches Chris McLaren (Koroit) and Dan O’Keefe (Warrnambool) involved as assistants.

Brown’s former schoolteacher and coach Leigh McCluskey has been named the chairman of selectors.

“I’ve got fantastic staff,” he said.

“Leigh McCluskey is my chairman of selectors, overseeing the team and he was my first coach at Warrnambool. He was also my maths teacher.

“He’s very good with numbers and the administration stuff. He knows how to guide the younger lads through.”

Brown said there would be no excuses if the team lost to Ballarat.

“We’ve provided the younger guys with a fair but of support and know how,” Brown said.

“We’re taking this seriously. I’ve got a lot of pride in our league’s performance.

“The lads all met up on Sunday and there’s huge amount of enthusiasm in the game.”

Brown said the buy-in has been good and similar to previous years.

From 2017 to 2019 he went about improving the commitment to the jumper and interleague concept as Hampden rose up the community footy rankings under him.

The goal now is to showcase talented players on the day and provide those who missed out on a chance to play during Covid with the chance to impress.

And get one up over his rival coach for the contest, Ballarat’s Anthony Koutoufides.

“Last interleague game we had we beat Ballarat convincingly and those boys were magnificent on the day,” he said.

“That’s the goal for sure (to repeat it).”

This time Brown and Koutoufides will take each other on the sidelines, rather than on the footy field.

Brown famously recalls his last contest against the Carlton great, in 2005, in his 100th game.

For a short time Anthony Koutoufides was on Jonathan Brown in the middle during his 100th game for Brisbane. Picture: Michael Dodge.

“I got sent into the centre square, to play on Kouta and spend some time in the midfield,” he revealed.

“I was like ‘Jesus Christ I don’t know what to do here, whether to play on him or get my autograph book out’.

“It’s nice to not have to play on him and sit at the oppositions coaches box.

“Kouta is one of the legends in the game and it (us as coaches) brings good awareness to the game and hopefully we can get some talent scouts out to the game and plenty of interest in the game.

“We want it to be entertaining.”

For the record Koutoufides had 28 disposals that day with Brown responding with 22 disposals and four goals as Brisbane won.

The interleague clash starts at 1pm at Mars Stadium.

You can check out the teams for the clash here.