VFL legend Gerard Fitzgerald back at helm of North Ballarat Rebels

FOR all his coaching experience and knowledge, there was one thing Gerard FitzGerald noted of his return to coaching the North Ballarat Rebels in the TAC Cup.

Man’s best friend: Gerard FitzGerald on his farm in Derrinallum with his Kelpie, Lizzie. Picture: Greg Scullin

FOR all his coaching experience and knowledge, there was one thing Gerard FitzGerald noted of his return to coaching the North Ballarat Rebels in the TAC Cup.

Remember to keep it simple.

FitzGerald returned to coaching in Victoria’s under-18 elite competition this season after mentoring the North Ballarat Roosters in the VFL the past nine years.

He had already coached the Rebels in 2005-06.

“My return’s been a lot easier because I loved it when I last had the job so I’m back in an environment that I thought I was successful in, but more importantly thoroughly enjoyed, ‘’ FitzGerald said.

“It fits my philosophy in my really strong interest in my players, as both boys and footballers, so it’s nice to have a really important, influential role in their development on and off the field.

“I’m teaching my boys to play the way I think they should play and I had to remind myself I only see them as a group once a week so there’s only a certain amount of messages I can give them in one night.

“I needed to realise it was going to take some time to have an influence over the group as to how I wanted them to play as a team.”

FitzGerald coached three VFL flags and produced five AFL draftees with the North Ballarat Roosters in his second stint with the VFL side from 2007 to last year. He also coached them in 1997-2002.

FitzGerald, who turns 59 next month, holds the VFA/VFL coaching record, breaking the previous record in 2014 when he coached his 314th VFL match.

His contract was sensationally not renewed by the Roosters midway through last VFL season, and in October it was announced he would once again take the reins of the TAC Cup under-18 Rebels team.

FitzGerald, who coached Sea Lake, Mortlake then Camperdown before starting a long and rich association with the VFL, now works part-time in football, meaning he can spend more time on his family’s farm in Derrinallum.

The 514ha farm consists of two former soldier settlement properties, one which originally belonged to FitzGerald’s family, while he and his wife, Loretta, bought the adjoining property in 1983.

Leader: Gerard FitzGerald addresses the North Ballarat Rebels. Picture: Megan Hustwaite

It is a cropping farm (barley, two varieties of wheat, canola, and broad beans) and FitzGerald said they also stock sheep, between 1500-2000, over summer.

Loretta and their sons Michael, 32 and Tim, 27, run the farm and also lease two other farms in the area. Daughter Kate lives in Perth.

Both Michael and Tim play football for Lismore-Derrinallum, and played in its Mininera and District league premiership last year, the club’s first since its merger.

North Ballarat Rebels’ recruiting zone covers a large chunk of western Victoria, and it had pre-season training bases in Ballarat, Warrnambool, Horsham, Hamilton and Camperdown.

During the season FitzGerald has the Rebels’ “local boys” for training on Tuesday nights at Ballarat, then the entire squad gathers at Eureka Stadium at 4pm each Thursday.

Many out of town players are excused from school at lunch time to make the trek to training, while 17 Rebels are at school, 15 of them boarding, in Ballarat.

“We’ve got two drivers, one who brings a group from Horsham and another from the southwest. The boys who come from Portland connect up with the group from Hamilton and meet up with the bus from the south west in Mortlake,’’ FitzGerald said.

“We train them at 4.30pm, give them a meal and have them on the road by 7pm so they’re home at a reasonable hour because some travel in excess of three hours to train.

“It’s a really big commitment and that’s why I’m mindful of all the things going on in a boy’s life other than just his football.”

The Rebels lost their opening three games of the season, then broke through against the Calder Cannons on the Anzac Day weekend.

The Rebels went 6-3 at Port Melbourne in the first game this month, beating Gippsland Power by 37 points. The city fixture meant a fair trek for both sides who were missing stars through Vic Country representative duties.

In the coaches’ box FitzGerald is calm and composed and messages to his players, directly and via the bench, are positive and educational. Emotions are measured and his focus is always on what a player can learn.

The Rebels win against the Power was its sixth in a row, but that winning streak was broken on Saturday by the ladder leader Geelong Falcons, which beat the Rebels at Eureka Stadium by 23 points.

The Falcons also bettered the Rebels by 28 points in Round 1, but despite the loss, the Rebels remain in fifth position on the TAC Cup ladder.

FitzGerald felt the team was”bridging the gap”

“We’ve been very good now for six weeks but early in the year against the top sides we were just below them,” he said.

“I thought there were some very good signs against the Falcons in some areas that I was looking for improvement in, so now it will be a matter of improving again in the short-term.”