TAC Cup: Darren Flanigan returns to Dandenong Stingrays as talent manager
Eight years after he left the Dandenong Stingrays, Darren Flanigan is back with the under-18 club as talent identification manager.
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Eight years after he left the Dandenong Stingrays, Darren Flanigan is back with the under-18 club.
The former AFL ruckman is returning to Shepley Oval as talent identification manager to replace Mark Wheeler, who has crossed to the Sandringham Dragons.
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Wheeler had replaced Flanigan when, after 10 years with the Stingrays, he left in 2010.
He spent two years in China helping establish the South China Football League and a talented athlete academy.
What’s old is new again!! Back to the Stingrays as the talent manager. Sad to be leaving female football but proud of our achievements as a group at â¦@aflvicâ© #whenyougetserveduplemons #makinglemonade!! pic.twitter.com/wdsOBelFvD
— Darren Flanigan (@D_Flanigan) November 30, 2018
For the past few years Flanigan has been working at AFL Victoria as female football talent manager, to much approval.
He was also the general manager of the Victorian Women’s Football League when its administration came under the wing of AFL Victoria late in 2013.
“What’s old is new again!’’ Flanigan said on Twitter last Friday, adding he was “sad’’ to be leaving female football but proud of what he and AFL Victoria had achieved.
Flanigan’s return was confirmed last Wednesday and he started work immediately, booking flights for a Stingrays match on the Gold Coast next year.
He attended training last Friday, catching up with new coach Nick Cox and meeting the players.
“It’s a really good club. It hasn’t changed much since I left. A lot of wonderful staff are still around, medical staff, team managers. They were there before I got there and they’re still there now, long-terms servants of the footy club,” Flanigan said.
“It’s a really strong footy region with good footy relationships. I just want to keep working on those.’’
Given his role in female football, Flanigan will take a mustard-keen interest in the Stingrays girls program. The club has four players in the AFLW Academy, which will head to the AIS in late December.
Flanigan said the growth of the women’s game had been staggering. There were 28 open-age teams in Victoria in 2013. This year there were 1008 female teams, junior and senior.
“I started working in female footy in 2013 and there was not a lot of interest in it,’’ he said.
“We took it from almost a fringe sport to mainstream to a really popular sport. So many good people have got involved in coaching and managing the programs.
“I think we’re pretty well set now for some really good, strong improvement in the talent coming through. You only have to look at the national draft this year with the number of high quality 18-year-olds selected. Credit to the footy community for embracing it and giving it its place in the sun.’’
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