VAFA: Phil Plunkett returns to Old Paradians as coach

FOUR-TIME premiership winner Phil Plunkett will return to his football roots after being appointed as Old Paradians’ VAFA coach.

FOUR-TIME premiership winner Phil Plunkett will return to his football roots after being appointed as Old Paradians’ VAFA coach.

A former Parade College student, Plunkett has enjoyed success as a senior coach in the Northern Football League with Heidelberg and Bundoora.

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The 44-year-old spent the past two years as an assistant coach with Northern Knights in the TAC Cup and has also led Essendon District club Oak Park.

“It is something I have always been proud of, going to Parade,” Plunkett said.

“When I played, we were in B Grade and I would love to see us get back up into that sort of area.”

Plunkett will steer the club’s return to Division 1 after it went down to UHS-VU in this year’s Division 2 grand final.

He replaces Ryan Smith, who has been at the helm for the past two years.

Phil Plunkett enjoyed success as coach of Bundoora.

And was a three-time premiership winner at Heidelberg.

“I don’t really know that much, which excites me, because I haven’t got any preconceived ideas of anybody,” he said.

“I have been a big believer in if you train well and train regularly, you get an opportunity, especially come practice matches.

“I’ll be watching the guys that have been putting in the work to have first crack.”

Old Paradians and UHS-VU do battle in the VAFA Division 2 grand final.

Plunkett was given his first taste of senior football at Old Paradians in 1992, when he was a member of the Northern Knights squad.

“I went to school there and then the first year at Northern Knights, I wasn’t getting a game, so I played in the seniors down there," he said.

He said preparing the Raiders to make an impact in Division 1 next season loomed as a “great challenge”.

“We got beaten in a grand final, but you have got to be there to start with,” he said.

“It’s exciting because the other two teams (Peninsula and St Mary’s Salesian) that have come back down were two grades above.

“We know our work is going to be cut out to try and equal them or better them next year. That’s what we will be trying to do.”

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