Nathan Johns stood down by Kangaroo Flat

A country footy club has sacked its coach after he was suspended for abusing an umpire and it could have an impact on retaining a highly prize ex-AFL recruit.

Kangaroo Flat president Leigh Bailey says the club will not stand for umpire abuse and the actions of their coach forced them to stand him down.

The Kangaroos sacked Nathan Johns, effective immediately, after he was suspended for four games after abusing an umpire abuse during the game against Sandhurst last Saturday.

“He was charged with two offences, one was behaving in an abusive and insulting and threatening manner with an umpire and the other was intentionally making contact with an umpire,” Bailey said.

“As a result of those charges he was then directed straight to the tribunal on Wednesday and was subsequently suspended.”

Bailey, along with the Kangaroo Flat committee, then made the decision to terminate his contract after the hearing.

“The decision wasn’t taken lightly, we had several meetings prior to the tribunal hearing,” he said.

“We looked at all different scenarios going forward with the senior coach but ultimately at the end of our conversations we felt we had no alternative but to end Nathan’s contract.

“There’s clauses in the (Nathan’s) contract, code of conduct, and so forth and they have to be taken seriously if they are breached.

“He breached that code of conduct within his contract and therefore we thought we had no other alternative but to part with Nathan and look forward to the future.”

Nathan Johns has been sacked as coach of Kangaroo Flat. Picture: Kangaroo Flat.

In the interim, assistant coach Jeremy Hayes will take over with the club now on the lookout for a coach for next year.

An advert will be released in the coming weeks.

“It was a big kick in the guts for us because it knocks you back a bit,” Bailey said.

“We’re resilient, we’re tough and we’ll move on from it but I’m not going to say it will be easy because it’s not.

“But we’ve got a positive culture we want to maintain and keep going.

“We’ve got a really healthy club, we’re very financial. Off the field we are very well organised and have many long term sponsors and great facilities.

“We want to look after our sponsors and continue that good rapport.”

Bailey added he was unsure next year involved their high-prized recruit Jon Patton.

The former number one AFL draft pick joined the club last month (May) with help from Johns.

Now it’s unclear if Patton will stay with Johns no longer at the club.

“We’re still working through all those things,” he said.

“It potentially could have an impact on a few things going forward and Jon Patton is one of them.”

Jonathan Patton in action for Kangaroos Flat. Picture: Aaron Cook

But right now the former GWS and Hawthorn player has another concern, his body.

“He got injured, he got a pretty bad hamstring tear (last week),” Bailey said.

“We’ve got to weight that up (his injury) going forward with what his future lies with the club.”

At this stage it is unsure if he comes back l this season and last week’s game against Sandhurst could have been his last.

Regardless of what happens, Bailey said the right decision was made.

“We’re extremely disappointed with a leader of our club being involved in an incident like this,” Bailey said.

“We’ll be making sure we take steps to ensure nothing like this happens again.

“We take these matters very seriously and we won’t accept this as part of the culture of our club under any terms.

“Without umpires we don’t have a game, we’ve got to make sure we respect and understand the job they do.”

Kangaroo Flat has the bye this Saturday in the Bendigo league and will play their next match on July 8 against South Bendigo.