TWELVE months after accepting an advisory role under Jack O’Rourke at Tooleybuc Manangatang, Daryl Powell has stepped into the senior coaching position at the Saints.
His CV is impressive.
Powell first moved to the Swan Hill region in 1976 when he started a three year stint at Nyah West.
He was involved at Tyntynder during the Bulldogs’ golden era in the 1980s, where he coached two of their five premierships.
Powell also has a wealth of experience as Interleague coach.
In a twist of fate, he was named coach of Tooleybuc in 1985 but had to relinquish the job after just three weeks, after being appointed to the role of regional manager for AFL Victoria.
Powell had enjoyed several seasons away from football after finishing in the role in 2010.
So when O’Rourke approached him prior to the start of the 2013 season to help out at the Saints, it took three months of convincing.
“I didn’t want anything to do with football when I gave the AFL away four years ago,” Powell said yesterday.
“[O’Rourke] took three months to talk me back into it.”
Powell said he had formed a close friendship with O’Rourke and he was pleased the former coach was staying on at Tooleybuc Manangatang.
“He had the opportunity to coach elsewhere but decided to stay, which is great. He had some trouble with injuries last year so he’ll have a good run if he can keep injury free,” he said.
Powell said the Saints had identified a number of areas to focus on for recruiting.
“We clearly needed a key forward. There were five games where we kicked 10 goals, and that’s just not a winning score,” he said.
Powell said the club was lucky to recruit six players with the credentials they were looking for.
From Central Highlands comes Lee Cox, who has season hauls of 100-plus goals next to his name for the last few years.
Defender Steve Lyons is returning to the club after a stint at Sea Lake Nandaly Tigers.
Utility Ben Jones is another who is returning to the Saints, after a stint at Wakool which included a premiership last season.
After some early trepidation, Powell said he was looking forward to the season, in part due to the success of the recruiting period.
“There’s a buzz out at the club. We hope to turn things around a bit, but we don’t want to have too high expectations,” he said.
“We certainly hope to be more competitive.”
Particularly pleasing for Powell was the fact that the recruits named so far will all be living in the area.
“They’ll all be in training two days a week during the season, so that will have its benefits,” he said.
