Rye appoints former MPFNL champion Brendon Moore as senior coach

A decorated Mornington Peninsula football figure is returning to the league to coach Rye. He reveals why he took the job and his plans to rebuild the Demons.

Brendon Moore coaching Mordialloc. Picture: Valeriu Campan

He refers to it as a “blank canvas’’.

And the possibilities excite him.

The Rye rebuild will be guided by former Frankston VFL and Pines star Brendon Moore, who was appointed Demons senior coach on Monday night.

Rye is coming off a winless 2023 season, but Moore is ready to get to work.

“I suppose it is a rebuild because of the fact they didn’t win a game but what I like about it is the fact they’ve got a lot of kids,” Moore said.

“Sometimes it’s only three or four (new) players who can change a lot.

“You may not need a lot, I don’t know.”

Pines product Moore says it’s great to be back in the Mornington Peninsula football league.

After coaching Southern league Division 1 club Mordialloc for the past three seasons, he sees Rye as an exciting challenge, one that he jumped at.

“It wasn’t a hard decision but a lot of thought had to go into it because I had spoken to a few other clubs as well,” Moore said.

“They (Rye) sold their club…it’s their passion that impressed me.

“They’ve got a lot of the former players who are really keen to get the club back up to where it should be.

“So that’s something that interested me in the sense they’ve got passion and that’s what’s good about the footy club. They’ve always been a passionate footy club. Hopefully we can get it back there.’’

Moore replaces his good mate Stephen Ryan, who will stay around the club in a support role, maybe even as match-day runner.

Moore says he will have “a good look’’ at the Rye list in the coming days and then embark on recruiting.

He’s also in the process of putting together coaching staff.

“It is a blank canvas,’’ he said of the Rye list.

“You never know do you? Some of the other sides in the comp moved up a fair bit this year.

We’ll see.’’

Moore started his football at Frankston Pines and went on to Essendon, where he played seven senior games between 1987-1990. He returned to Pines for a season-and-a-half, then crossed to Frankston, where he had an outstanding career in the VFL.

His highlights included the club captaincy, the 1997 and ’98 best and fairests, two state jumpers and two VFL team-of-the-year selections.

Moore returned to Pines as senior playing coach, leading it to a grand final and winning a league medal (in 2000, as coach). He was also named in the MPNFL team of the century.

Rye vice president and football manager Scott Beel said the Demons had a short-list of four candidates, and Moore was the perfect choice.

“Moorey ticks all the boxes for us,’’ he said.

“He’s a bit of a local legend and knows the comp really well and he knows a lot of players for recruiting.

“We’re really happy that he sees our club as a club that he can rebuild. It’s really exciting.’’

Moore has signed with Rye for two years, with an option of three.

Beel said the Demons would launch a recruiting campaign.

“Now it’s all official with Brendon coaching, we’ll get to work and I dare say in the next couple of weeks we’ll have some good recruits come on board,’’ he said.

Beel said Rye’s young players would learn a lot from Moore.

“He’s got a great footy knowledge for what he’s done in footy,’’ he said.

“We know for our group of young blokes he’ll be great but he’s also a great coach for older blokes as well. It’s the best of both worlds for us.’’