West Gippsland league: Leigh Cole to coach Korumburra-Bena

Leigh Cole says he’s out to bring through young players as he accepts his third senior coaching position and his first in country football.

Leigh Cole calling the shots at Ivanhoe in 2018.

When Leigh Cole started talking to Korumburra-Bena Giants officials about the club’s senior coaching position, they were quick to find common ground.

Cole told them he was keen to promote young players.

They told him they wanted to do the same.

Pretty quickly he was being appointed to replace club great Paul Alger, who left after three years.

“We were on the same page,’’ Cole, 42, said.

“That was one the things that appealed to me. I like working with the young guys and helping them develop and be the best they can be.

“They obviously haven’t had great results over the last few years but there’s a bright future there because of the number of kids they’ve got coming through. Not just the ones that have been exposed to senior footy this year but the 16s and 18s.

“They have quite strong numbers in the Under 16s and their junior sides have been pretty strong as well.

New Korumburra-Bena coach Leigh Cole.

“We want to try to build a club that’s full of local players, not try to bring in a lot of Melbourne-based players. Make it a local team and get as many players out on the training track on a Tuesday night and Thursday night and build from there.’’

He said six or seven Under 18s were introduced to the senior side this year.

The Giants finished 2-9 on a West Gippsland league ladder headed by Phillip Island.

Cole has been living in South Gippsland for 18 months, and became involved in the local football scene this year when he guided the West Gippsland Under 18 team.

In Melbourne he’d coached Ivanhoe in the VAFA and West Preston Lakeside in the Northern league, as well as served as an assistant to the great Gary Ayres at Port Melbourne in the VFL in 2014.

He relished his season under Ayres but he was working in the northern suburbs and the travel to Port three times a week was a pain.

In the first of his two stints at Ivanhoe he took a young team to the grand final.

“I’d coached the Under 19s for a year and took 16 of those kids to a grand final about three years later,’’ Cole, who played all his football at the Hoes, said.

Leigh Cole at West Preston Lakeside.

Korumburra-Bena president Troy Patterson said the club was working hard to achieve success and was pleased to appoint Cole.

Patterson was president of Dingley when it won its first premiership in the Southern league, and later moved to the town to operate the Middle Hotel.

He became president this year.

“We’re not far away. We’ve got a very young side and a good crop of Under 18 kids coming through,’’ Patterson said.

“We were in quite a few games this year but we got a bit light on at the end. We were absolutely massacred by injuries.’’

He said the Giants had strong support and were eager to put their stamp on West Gippy.