Eastern Football League: Vermont welcomes back great Adam Parker as its new senior coach
Eastern powerhouse Vermont has unveiled its new coach, welcoming back a favourite son. Here’s how it unfolded...
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Eastern powerhouse Vermont has welcomed back a favourite son as its new senior coach.
Dual premiership player Adam Parker has been unveiled as the successor to Harmit Singh, who recently announced his departure.
Parker spent six years at the Eagles as a player, featuring in the 2018 and 2019 top-flight premierships, before hanging up the boots at the end of last season to coach AFL Outer East club, Upwey-Tecoma.
His 14-year senior career began at Wantirna South in 2005 before transferring to Scoresby in 2007, playing in senior grand finals across 2010 and 2011. He also represented VFL outfit Casey from 2007-08.
He will coach Vermont for the 2021 and 2022 seasons.
A call late last week from Vermont president Mike Rennie on the vacant coaching job sparked the interest of Parker.
“It’s really exciting - I spent a lot of time there so it’s nice to go back home … it’s a great club, everyone knows its history,” Parker said.
“It was always very clear that when I left Vermont, I would love to come back and coach the club, so that was always clear, and they made contact and things moved pretty quickly from there.”
Parker landed the Upwey-Tecoma gig towards the end of last season where he was to coach this year before the coronavirus crisis hit, and said he was grateful for the opportunity the club had given him.
“Upwey has been really supportive,” Parker said.
“It’s bittersweet - I went there with the idea of coaching and making a big impact.
“But unfortunately, COVID hit and stopped all progress with football.
“They gave me an opportunity and I can’t speak highly enough of the club there, and the boys are a real tight-knit group and made some really significant improvement.”
Parker paid tribute to his former coaches and said while he’s taken lessons from each of them across the journey, he’ll look to create his own legacy.
“All the coaches I’ve had in the last 14 years have been of a really high calibre - I’ve been really lucky to have a number of quality coaches with different styles and different ways of going about things,” he said.
“(But) I’m going to be my own person, I’m not going try and be anyone that I’m not.”
Vermont was looking for a threepeat of premierships this season before the coronavirus-forced season shutdown. It has won a total of 23 senior premierships – 21 of those in the Eastern Football League.
Parker said that while there’s always that expectation and pursuit for success around one of suburban footy’s most celebrated clubs, it meant everyone shared the common goal of premierships.
“The club’s always out to win grand finals and that pressure is always internal, everyone’s well aware of that,” he said.
“Vermont’s had a great success rate which adds pressure – players also come there to win premierships … everyone’s pulling in the same direction which makes it easier.”
The club has seen the departures of 2019 Chandler medallist Brett Eddy and spearhead Jake Best in recent weeks, and the new mentor said while the Eagles will miss the duo, he’ll begin looking for options to fill the void.
“They’re irreplaceable those two – they’ve both had super careers at Vermont,” Parker said.
“We’ll look to replace, but we’ve got a lot of quality players coming up through the junior ranks who’ve played reserves and grand finals as well.
“We’re going to miss them, of course, but as footy does, we’ll keep moving forward.”