Outer East league: Ex-AFL player Robin Nahas joins Michael Firrito’s Gembrook Cockatoo
Gembrook Cockatoo coach Michael Firrito has lured a former AFL teammate to help spark the Brookers’ resurgence in Outer East league.
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The ex-AFL Kangaroos are bounding to the Brookers.
Former North Melbourne speedster Robbie Nahas is the latest to join Gembrook Cockatoo, coached by his great mate and former Roos teammate Michael Firrito.
Nahas, 36, wants to concentrate on playing as much footy as he can. He follows another ex-Roo, Marley Williams, who signed with the Brookers in September.
Nahas joins the Outer East league club solely as a player after being player-coach at North Ringwood over the past five seasons.
In July, having announced he was stepping down as North Ringwood coach, Nahas said this about his future: “I still want to play as much footy as I can until I can’t really walk.’’
Firrito said he’s thrilled to sign Nahas.
“It’s great to get Robbie, he’s one of my really close mates,” Firrito said.
“He will be great for us, he just brings a wealth of knowledge and experience and will be a good help not only for myself but also our team. Rapt for the get.”
Firrito said Nahas’ leadership would be crucial as the young Gembrook Cockatoo side sets itself to climb up the ladder in OEFN Premier Division (it finished ninth with a 5-13 record this year).
“He doesn’t have an official capacity but he will bring leadership out on the ground…he’s looking for something just to play and be free,” Firrito said.
“But I know how competitive he is and how good he is with kids and everything like that.
“He has a really good understanding of the game and people as well, he’s great with young kids which is perfect for our young group because we’ve got a lot of 18, 19 to 23 year olds…it’s probably 90 percent of our team.”
Firrito said having Nahas and Williams next season was a positive not just for the Brookers but also for the Outer East league.
“It’s great to see these guys coming back to local football,” he said.
“Both played a hundred games of AFL football, they are great gets not only for our team but also for football lovers in general, hopefully we can drag a few people to come along to the games to watch.”
Firrito said the pair would make their mark.
“Just two quality ball users, really quick and agile guys so they’re going to be great for our footy club. But we still need our locals and our young list to do the bulk of the work.
Really excited about our young list and really excited about bringing these guys in to complement.”
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