Coburg coach Jamie Cassidy-McNamara discusses new job, new faces
Jamie Cassidy-McNamara’s appointment at Coburg was all a bit of a blur and the new Lions coach believes 2023 is the year of opportunity.
Victorian Football
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Opportunity … that will new Coburg coach Jamie Cassidy-McNamara’s motto this season.
The 2023 VFL season will be an opportunity for a group of talented young players – and the Lions will be young.
With a number of senior players moving on, the opportunity for the club’s next generation to step up and take ownership is there for the taking.
As many as 12 list spots were open when Cassidy-McNamara was appointed in November following the late departure of Andrew Sturgess to NAB League club Calder Cannons.
There is opportunity to earn a VFL contract, to prove you belong at the level, to showcase potential and impress AFL recruiters and an opportunity to lift a club.
“Off-field the club is very strong and the last couple of years Sturg has done a lot of good work establishing a strong foundation culturally,” Cassidy-McNamara said.
“From a winning perspective we know we need to be better and we think we can be, I’m really excited by the opportunity that presents.
“The first thing we need to do is set high expectations within the club … the boys have risen to that challenge and as we head into the season we want to keep raising the bar.
“I’m really confident we’re going to be competitive, whether that translates to wins and losses remains to be seen, but I’d certainly love to get some boys drafted – that’s a big focus for me.”
It’s an opportunity too for the new coach after being thrust into the job at the last minute.
Cassidy-McNamara led VAFA Premier A club Old Trinity last season and previously spent six seasons at Collingwood.
He’s looking forward to testing himself and leading an ambitious group of players.
“I’d done a lot of work with Sturg, so I was well placed in having an idea of the list and what happened in 2022 so the only thing that shocked me was the timing,” he said.
“It happened on a Thursday, confirmed on Friday, meeting with the players on Saturday and we started pre-season on the Monday, but I think it’s better that way, just jumping into it.
“I was really fortunate that we had a lot of list spots to fill, I think we had a dozen when I came in.
“It was an opportunity to keep the good stuff that Sturg had done on culture – with some good, young leaders – but also turn the list over pretty quickly.
“We’ve only got a few spots left and been able to bring a lot of young, hungry guys in.”
The list of departures is long, headlined by the likes of co-captain Peter McEvoy, Sam Lowson, Jack Maibaum, Tom Silvestro and Corey Ellis.
However, there is an air of excitement with the talent arriving.
Adam Carafa, Ben Rigoni, Jackson Bowne, Will Bella, Liam Podhajski, Charlie Beasley, Kyle Weightman, Max Simpson, Aaron Gundry and Nic Quigg have all joined.
George Belcher, Hugo McGlashan and Sam Mason have all followed Cassidy-McNamara from Old Trinity.
Veteran defender Jesse Corigilano has been named captain.
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“I’m pretty bullish, if you look at all the disruptions to the talent pathway over the last two or three years, about the players we can find that haven’t been drafted,” Cassidy-McNamara said.
“Some of these kids, they’re two years of NAB League or school footy as been rough, so I think there’s a lot of guys on a slow burn and they just need the opportunity.”
Coburg has its opening practice match pencilled in for the last weekend in February with the new season kicking off on March 25-26.
The club is also setting lofty goals of wanting to hit 1300 club members in 2023 and you can join the Lions by heading to www.coburgfc.com.au/membership
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