EDFL: New Sunbury Kangaroos coach Leigh Sporle reveals plan for success
Leigh Sporle is a life member at Sunbury Kangaroos and played more than 200 games. But he has vivid memories of the tough times the EDFL club has endured as he prepares to take on the senior coaching job.
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Leigh Sporle has vivid memories of the heavy defeats.
When he joined Sunbury Kangaroos (then known as Sunbury Rovers) more than two decades ago, hammerings were the norm.
“It wasn’t uncommon to cop 30 or 40-goal hidings,” Sporle said.
Sporle racked up “200 or 250 games” at the Kangaroos before taking on assistant coaching roles at Coburg Districts and Moonee Valley and the top job at Rockbank.
The 40-year-old life member will coach the Essendon District Football League Division 1 outfit in 2021 after being appointed Anthony Leydin’s replacement.
He takes over a club which completed an undefeated Division 2 season in 2019 after making the decision to leave the Riddell District league.
The Kangaroos also claimed the 2012 RDFL flag under Chris Meacham.
As Sporle observed, Sunbury Kangaroos have rebounded from the tough times and transformed themselves.
“I was still playing when we were making prelims and finals and stuff. I wasn’t part of the club when they won the grand final under Chris Meacham but was still an active supporter of the club at that point,” he said.
“To see it go from a club that was really struggling to making finals … and then for them to win it.
“Now they’ve changed leagues, but we used to cop hidings.”
Sporle said it was a “no-brainer” to apply for the position in hope of landing his “perfect job”.
He coached Rockbank in 2013 before returning as a co-coach in 2017.
He then relocated to Queensland for work but has been quick to rediscover his passion for coaching and joked that he hopes “I can win every game like they did last year”.
“I want to bring a lot of care and a bit of fun,” he said.
“Obviously they’ve had that success, but it’s something I really want to try and continue.
“Even since joining the club, the amount of support I’ve received so far from players offering any support they can, it’s blown me away.”
Sporle said he wanted to make training enjoyable and build a united group on game day.
Since the 2019 success, the Kangaroos have waved goodbye to premiership players Tierone Cuffe, Matthew Quigley, Lachlan Baddeley, Christian Monaco, Jeremy Murphy, Jared Pretty, Brad Slater and Matt Welsh.
But star big man Brenton Sutherland, Daniel Gregory, Mitch Streiff, Matthew Leonard, John Corso and Lachlan Kaye have already recommitted for 2021.
“They’ve got some really good kids and good under-18s,” Sporle said.
“Not just for the points system, but the fact you’ve got under-18s kids coming through, you really want to make sure you develop them.”
Sporle said premiership captain Gregory had been “a great support”.
“It’s hard to fail when you’ve got people like him around the club,” he said.
“The leadership group have already reached out to me. I’ve been in the role for about a week and they’ve been on zoom meetings, Skype meetings and all sorts of stuff.
“That tells you a little bit about where the club is at, I would have thought.”
Sporle has not previously coached in the EDFL’s second tier but has relationships with rival mentors Jimmy House (Airport West), Charlie Denaro (Hillside) and Dale May (West Coburg).
He is locked in for one year but is hopeful the union will last much longer.
“I’ve got to be accountable to myself as well. I want to try and obviously bring the success the guys had last year,” Sporle said.
“They’ve been successful for a while, so I want to continue that.”
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