Anthony McGregor discusses taking on Watsonia job, plans for club’s rebuild

A meeting with Watsonia’s leadership group proved decisive in new coach Anthony McGregor taking the job and he’s now got big plans for the Saints.

Josh Boulton in action for Watsonia. Picture: Nathan McNeil

First impressions matter.

A meeting with the Watsonia playing group led to Anthony McGregor deciding to take the NFNL Division 2 club’s senior coaching job.

He wasn’t planning on coaching but a call from long-time friend and Saints football director Brett Potter led to an interview and then a meeting with the playing group.

The result, McGregor returns to the sidelines after a year and a half out of the game, taking the Saints’ reins from George Lattouf.

He said the players commitment was a deciding factor.

Anthony McGregor during his time at Templestowe. Picture: Valeriu Campan

“I wasn’t looking at getting into coaching, I was quite happy to be able to pick a game and go and watch on the weekend,” McGregor said.

“I was approached by the club, I’ve known Pottsy for a long time and out of respect for him I sat down and had a meeting.

“My hitting zone is taking clubs from being average to really good in terms of culture and the club climbing up the ladder – I’ve done it a few times.

“I went in for a second chat and there was basically no committee, just the (playing) leadership group – about nine of them.

“They told me what they were looking for and what they were willing to do to get better and I found that very different, it’s the first time I’ve experienced that.

“They were super keen and that really peaked my interest, they went all out, and that’s what got me over the line.”

The former Fitzroy defender is hoping to help turn Watsonia around after the club narrowly avoided relegation this year.

The Saints defeated Laurimar in the final game of the season to secure survival.

McGregor has previously coached Reservoir, and more recently, helped turn around Eastern league clubs Warrandyte and Templestowe.

Watsonia has lost Mitch Brownhill and Rayden Garrard so far this off-season and added Tom Jackson (North Ringwood), Mason Grech (Eltham) and Charlie Smythe (Macleod).

With Grech and Jackson both young ruckmen, height was a major recruiting focus.

“One of the things the leadership group wanted was a genuine ruckman and ruck stocks,” McGregor said.

“We had pinch-hit ruckmen playing senior roles, which wasn’t perfect, because we’ve got a great on-ball brigade and we needed someone to get it to them.

“Mason Grech is a young fella who we can tip in a lot of time and learning to, at 6’11 he’s not getting any smaller.

“Getting Tom on board, a high-quality senior ruckman, I think that’s a major get for the club.

“We’ll have a couple of kids come up from Warrnambool with Austin and Harry Sinclair, so the (recruiting) ball is starting to roll.”

Watsonia has been back in pre-season training since mid-November.

The Saints are also expecting to return to the under-19s competition this year with a strong crop of youngsters coming through affiliated junior club Mill Park.

“It’s a tough time of the year for any footy club, pre-Christmas, to be honest, I think is losing it’s lustre,” McGregor said.

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“I’m very happy with who and how they turned up to training and brought a lot of enthusiasm and positivity with them.

“We’ve got some decent numbers and we’ve still got blokes away and doing other things but I’m very happy.

“(Under-19s) is going to be a major addition, we’ve had 22 or 23 under-19s training already.

“I think we’re going to go really well with a 19s group, Adrian Talarico and Dan La Greca have been incredible getting the group together.”