EDFL: Oak Park coach Todd Clark re-signs for 2021
Reappointed Oak Park coach Todd Clark addresses cuts to the salary cap and the key changes the Kangaroos are making to rebound from a difficult period.
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Reappointed Oak Park coach Todd Clark is hopeful salary cap cuts will assist his club’s bid to climb the senior grades of the Essendon District Football League.
The rebuilding Kangaroos qualified for the 2011 Premier Division decider and were set to contest Division 2 this year before the coronavirus crisis forced clubs to reset for 2021.
AFL Victoria is set to slash the player payments limit for the next three years, with Premier Division sides to have $100,000 to spend next season, while Division 1 clubs will have $85,000 and Division 2 clubs $70,000.
The move has significantly reduced the extra money promoted clubs need to generate to compete at the next level.
Clark was confident the lower caps would not impact Oak Park’s retention, but the great unknown is whether more local players who have been impacted financially by the pandemic will seek lucrative weekend work.
“Everyone wants to go up the grades, and our story has been that you want to be part of it because you have success to get there,” Clark said.
“You don’t want people waiting for that to happen and just jumping back on when you hopefully go up.
“We’ll put our time in now to get ourselves set, get a new program together.
“The challenging thing is it’s a bit of a culture shock with the salary cap reduction.
“But the beauty of it is everyone is in the same boat. Keeping our list is our priority, and we’ll see what happens from there.”
The Kangaroos had reason to be bullish about their prospects this year after suffering relegation from Division 1 in 2019.
Clark said they had built “a pretty good list” and the call to re-commit was a “simple decision”.
The premiership player and former Williamstown VFL assistant is in his second stint in the top job after leading Oak Park to the Division 1 flag in 2009.
Clark said the Kangaroos were also putting plenty of work in off the ground to arrest the slide.
He said the club’s junior ranks was a key area, with senior players set to be called on to mentor young players.
Oak Park has also undergone plenty of change at board level as it looks to usher in a new era.
“We needed certain people to play different roles instead of just people with the right intention putting their hands up,” Clark said.
“They’ve been making some really good progress.
“Myself and the president Brett (Scott) are always talking. Yes, on field we want to do something, but we want to bring the club more together. I think the last couple of years it’s been a bit strained.
“First and foremost, I want to make sure we’re really clear and there’s communication two ways with the board.
“They’re continually getting ready and putting plans in place for when hopefully the clouds move away.”
Reserves coach Ben Turner and under-18.5s mentor Julian Valentino have also re-signed.
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