Former Mornington coach Chris Holcombe to steer MPNFL interleague side in state titles
FORMER Mornington coach Chris Holcombe is the new coach of the MPNFL interleague side, replacing John Hynes.
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FORMER Mornington coach Chris Holcombe is the new coach of the MPNFL interleague side.
The 39-year-old replaces John Hynes at the helm of the Sharks and hopes to capitalise on a close bond that has been built within the group when they tackle the Northern Football League in this year’s WorkSafe AFL Victoria Community Championships at Preston City Oval on Saturday, May 19.
On offer is a chance to rise back into the top-two rankings and take on the might of either Geelong or Eastern for the title of number-one league in the state in 2019.
The Sharks went down to Geelong by 22 points at the MCG last year after defeating Northern by five goals at Rye in 2016. Holcombe is hoping to repeat the dose against Northern this time around.
“It’s very exciting, Hynesy has done a great job over the past couple of years getting a squad that’s close and bonded well together and that’s been sort of the key to their success,” Holcombe said.
“I’m very excited to be a part of that group and hopefully build on it.”
Holcombe coached Mornington for the past four years, making grand final day on back-to-back occasions in 2014-15 before eventually succumbing to the might of Frankston YCW.
“Before that, I obviously played a lot of football, drafted to Hawthorn when I was a kid, played a lot of footy at Frankston Dolphins and then went back and won a couple of premierships with Mornington.”
The number-80 pick in the 1996 AFL Draft said Hynes and his coaching staff had left a lasting legacy.
“I think they’ve probably overcome a lot of the challenges, a lot of it was buy-in, in the past, the players not wanting to compete for the Mornington Peninsula, and I think that’s been arrested by the group over the last couple of years,” Holcombe said.
“Just really wanting to be out there, representing the league, and that’s probably been the greatest achievement that Hynesy is going to leave. And hopefully we just continue that through, that’s the key to it.”
Combining familiar faces with a new breed of stars is very important according to the Sharks new coach.
“I think you need to keep a core group together, especially those guys who have performed, they deserve to be there again, but on top of that, to go forward, I think you really need to bring some new players through,” he said.
“Some guys who have been playing good footy, knocking on the door, anything that is going to help build that list through to hopefully getting a win.”
Holcombe is one of two coaching appointments made by AFL South East, with Rye senior coach Josh Moore entrusted with the task of leading the Sharks’ under 19s into battle against Northern’s finest junior talent.
The appointment of Holcombe and Moore came after a thorough process led by AFL South East football operations manager Haydn Parsons, who engaged AFLSE coaching mentor Brent Clinnick to assist with the task at hand.
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