Steve Saddington returns to his beloved Northcote Park as coach
Newly appointed coach Steve Saddington said he’d always thought about coming full circle and returning to coach Northcote Park and he’s already hard at work building the list for 2021.
Local Footy
Don't miss out on the headlines from Local Footy. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Premiership player, best-and-fairest, club captain, there was only one title missing from Steve Saddington’s Northcote Park resume.
That box is now set to be ticked with the Cougars great returning as senior coach for 2021, replacing Barry Mitchell.
Saddington said he’d thought about returning to Bill Lawry Oval and a phone call from the club got the ball rolling.
COACH: FAVOURITE SON RETURNS TO LEAD COUGARS
LEADER: GET YOUR NORTHERN FOOTY NEWS HERE
TITLES: MOST DOMINANT NFL TEAMS OF THE DECADE
“It’s a return home, I was a junior at Alphington, played at the club for 15 years, been gone for eight years, so I’m looking forward to it,” he said.
“It came on pretty quickly, Barry stepped down and the club asked if I’d be interested in having a chat and it grew from there.
“I always thought in the back of my mind it would be nice to come full circle and finish back at the club.”
Saddington was a part of Northcote Park’s 2001 and 2002 premierships, the second half of the club’s historic four-peat, and won a best-and-fairest in 2004.
He departed Bill Lawry Oval to join North Heidelberg in 2012, going on to coach the Bulldogs to premierships in 2014 and 2017.
Despite being away from the club for almost a decade, there’ll still be some familiar faces and names.
“I probably played with five or six guys that played in the 2012 premiership that are still around,” Saddington said.
“A few of the old family names that have been around the club for years, I knew those boys when they were kids, so it will be good to see them play senior footy.”
Having spent the last two years at Essendon District Premier Division outfit Pascoe Vale, Saddington believes he’s ready to step back up to the top job.
“It’s been great being involved in two unbelievable clubs, learning the way different clubs run has been great for the footy side,” he said.
“The same at Pascoe Vale, being in a different competition and being involved in A-Grade footy there and seeing how things run.
“I have a bit of a theory, if you have good people, you’ll get good results.
“That happened at North Heidelberg, the people around the club and playing group was unbelievable, and they had a successful period that’s still going on.”
Saddington has already started contacting players hoping to retain the Cougars list of off-season recruits.
While the Cougars will be without boom recruit David Myers for 2021, the club had secured a host of new faces.
“The main thing with the salary cap being what it is, the main thing is tying up what you’ve got,” he said.
“Most of the guys are in a pretty good spot and looking forward to get back into training.
“We miss out on getting to see David play and the boys are really flat about but he’s been in touch with the them this week and hopefully we’ll see him back at the club.
“I spoke to Ben the other day … he’s Northcote Park royalty and I’m really looking forward to working with him.”