Peter Higginbotham locked in as senior coach of Elsternwick
The former Glen Eira assistant coach says the Wicks remind him of a country football club “right in the middle of Melbourne”.
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Peter Higginbotham knew bits and pieces about Elsternwick before he joined it as an assistant coach halfway through this year.
His brother Graham had played there 20-odd years ago. He had friends and acquaintances who were associated with the club.
But Higginbotham — “Hugo’’ to those who know him well — said he didn’t know the extent of the support for the Wicks.
He said he could appreciate it from the day he walked in.
Higginbotham played at a lot of football at Pakenham, and Elsternwick reminded him of a country club in the way that locals got around it and were prepared to contribute.
Higginbotham has been appointed Elsty’s new senior coach, arriving ahead of a 2020 season in which the club will take up in a new pavilion and rooms and launch a women’s team.
He said it was an exciting time to be involved.
It’s a first senior coaching position for Higginbotham, who had stints at Springvale reserves in the VFL and Tooronga Malvern in the Southern league after leaving Pakenham.
He got his start in coaching at Glen Eira Saints, steering the reserves after being the senior runner for a few years.
Higginbotham took the team to a grand final in 2016. He became a senior assistant in the 2018 premiership season.
This year he left halfway through the year, feeling burnt out. He intended to have a break from football, but Elsty convinced him to take a look.
He did, and he liked what he saw.
“It seemed a great fit straight away, in terms of the culture,’’ he said.
“Everyone knows Elsternwick in terms of the history – they’ve been around a long time – and they’ve done a really good job of maintaining it.
“They’ve struggled in the divisions. But the off-field support of all the past players and the community … it’s a really good club to be at.
“There’s a great feel to the place, and I felt it immediately. They absolutely love Elsternwick. They’ve all stuck fat. They’ve never had to merge or even looked like going under. There’s a lot of passion there. It’s like a country footy club but it’s right in the middle of Melbourne.’’
With a young side, Elsternwick made the preliminary final in Division 4 under Leigh Horsburg last season.
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“You can’t pay in the amateurs obviously, you can’t buy anyone in. It’s good old-fashioned generic growth, players getting their mates in to play suburban footy, which is a really hard market,’’ Higginbotham said.
Kyle Van Der Pluym won the best and fairest from Julian Yeatman, and both were named in the Division 4 team of the year. Lachlan Lloyd was third in the vote count.
Higginbotham will be assisted in his coaching duties by Abe De Vries, another former Glen Eira reserves coach.
He said the club was particularly enthused about the new women’s team.
Clinics were held in September and October to drum up interest and attendances were good.
“With the women’s team, they’ve put a power of work into it, which is what they do down there, work because they love the club so much,’’ Higginbotham said.