Damien Zanic on Melton Centrals job, recruiting and pre-season impressions
A chat with a soon-to-be rival helped Damien Zanic take on the Melton Centrals job. He discusses the Blues’ recruiting and his pre-season first impressions.
Riddell
Don't miss out on the headlines from Riddell. Followed categories will be added to My News.
A chat with a soon-to-be rival ended with Damien Zanic taking the Melton Centals coaching job.
Zanic is long-time friends with Wallan coach Daniel Nolan, the pair having co-coached together at the Magpies in 2017.
They’ll face off against each other next year after Zanic signed a two-year deal at Arnolds Creek Reserve.
Centrals were quick to snap up the highly experienced coach and Brisbane Lions opposition analyst during its 2001-03 premiership three-peat.
The RDFNL club has re-signed key talents Dylan Jobson, Jonny Ferri, Jake Armistead and captain James Roberts.
Ex-VFL stars Fabian Brancatisano and Hisham Kerbatieh have signed on, as well as Brody Thrum (Lancefield) and Karl and Josh Ullrich (Yarraville-Seddon).
Zanic was excited by the challenge of lifting Centrals up the ladder.
“I’m good mates with Daniel Nolan at Wallan, we first went down there together when he was playing and I was on the sidelines,” Zanic said.
“I spoke to him about Melton and he goes ‘absolutely, have a crack at it’, he thought they were heading in the right direction and it would be good to get involved and get them up the ladder.
“We’re building something big hopefully, we’re not putting any ceiling on anything at the moment, we’ll just see how 2025 pans out.
“A lot of the recruits were picked up before I got the position, so the club has been really busy off the field getting things done.
“There might be one or two (recruits) still to come but if not we’re pretty comfortable where things are at.”
Centrals has been back in pre-season training for three weeks.
Zanic is still working on putting names to faces but has liked what he’s seen so far.
Expect to see a fleet-footed gameplan in 2025.
“The boys are up and about.
“We’ve had about 30 on average at each session, which is good.
“A lot of the boys actually started only a couple of weeks after the season finished, they wanted to get a headstart and were doing some running and touch.
“We’re a young side, we’re a quick side, so we’ll look to get the ball moving as quickly as possible.
“We’ll have a Plan B and Plan C, depending on who we’re coming up against and the situation in the game, so we’re doing a lot of scenario work at training.”
Getting Kerbetiah and Brancatisano has been particularly impressive.
The pair will add invaluable experience to a up-and-coming list.
“They had opportunities to go elsewhere,” Zanic said.
RDFNL: MARLION PICKETT HEADING SOUTH TO NEW FOOTY HOME
LEADER: GET YOUR RIDDELL DISTRICT FOOTY NEWS HERE
RDFNL: WALLAN LOADS UP IN BID TO END FLAG CURSE
“They live around the area and thought it was a good fit and jumped at the opportunity.
“The club sold them a good vision and the club sold me a good vision as well.
“They’re players with really good experience, which will be good for the kids.”
Melton Centrals has locked in practice matches against St Albans and Lara.
Off-season central: every RDFNL club’s recruits
The new season is just around the corner and Riddell District clubs have been busy bolstering their lists. Check out all the news recruits here.
Named: the biggest local footy recruits of 2025
From Melton to Mornington, Epping to East Brighton, local footy clubs have secured some elite talent. We’ve named the biggest moves of the summer here.