While they may not be playing in Swan Hill this year, the Bendigo Pioneers will still have a strong local connection in 2023.
Former Tooleybuc player and Nyah-Nyah West United premiership star Danny O’Bree is entering his third season in charge of the Pioneers boys’ program, former Swan Hill College teacher Whitney Kennedy will be head coach of the women’s program, and another former NNW United product, Rick Coburn, has been appointed to the role of talent operations lead.
Coburn, who coached the Pioneers between 2017 and 2019, took over the role from the late David Meade, who sadly died last October after a private battle with cancer. With the Pioneers mourning the loss of their much loved figurehead, Coburn – who held the role of AFL State Coaching Manager – saw it as the perfect opportunity to return “home” and continue the work and vision of his great mate.
“David (Meade) didn’t just do an amazing job over a long period of time with the Pioneers, he was also a remarkable human being period,” Coburn said.
“Our involvement together goes back to when David was my runner when I was coaching the Pioneers – from there, he took over the program and drove it to higher standards and a level that the club had simply never reached before.
“I certainly won’t be filling his shoes, as those shoes are impossible to fill – we all miss him, but we’ll carry on Meady’s work the best we can and honour him that way.”
A key project of Meade’s that Coburn wants to continues is the Pioneers’ movement away from being regarded as a Bendigo-centric organisation. Under Meade, the Pioneers strengthened their ties with the Central Murray, Sunraysia and Goulburn Murray regions, establishing satellite bases in Swan Hill, Mildura and Echuca, as well as playing games in those regions.
“It’s such a big region, we really do cover so much of northwest Victoria and southern NSW and although it can be a challenge at times, there are some really good kids right across those areas,” Coburn said.
“It’s really important that we aren’t just the Bendigo Pioneers, that we’re the regional Pioneers that cover the Central Murray area with just as much work and effort as we do Sunraysia, or the Goulburn Murray, North Central or Bendigo areas.
“Sometimes the four regional centres can stretch us a bit thin with staff, especially when you consider a lot of the other Talent League regions might have one or two bases at most – so we like to think we do the best we can with all of our areas, while knowing that it can be a challenge to do so.”
So with the new season set to kick off, just what is the main aim of the Pioneers? Are they like any other football club, that trades on the wins, losses and week to week performance of the team? Or, being the rung underneath AFL level, is their success based on finding as many players as possible a home on an AFL list? Well, according to O’Bree, it’s neither.
“While my job is titled regional development coach, it’s really not about just developing AFL talent, nor is it about only improving the standard of footy within our region – it’s really about focusing on developing our people, developing our players, staff, coaches within our region,” O’Bree said.
“It’s not about wins and losses, Whitney and I are probably the most fortunate people in coaching in that we’re not going to get sacked if we lose every game – we’ll get sacked if we stop developing the talent and stop developing the people in our program, and not just from a football perspective.
“I’m pretty passionate about our region, having lived in nearly all parts of it over my lifetime, and we need to understand that in order to improve football in our region, we need to drive better standards – which will eventually drive better outcomes.”
Coburn agreed.
“Certainly, the program is designed to work on the person as a whole – in other words, better person equals better player or better player equals better person, we take a holistic approach in that regard,” he said.
“The one trait that AFL clubs and ourselves are looking for in young people is self-motivation.
“This is probably advice to young people in general – you’ve got to drive yourself and be self-motivated if you are going to do well in whatever it is you want to do.
“We try to give opportunities the best we can – but know that if players, whether they are in our program or not, if they have drive and self-motivation, they’re going to do good things.”
The Talent League girls team are already up to Round 3 this season, having played both the Murray Bushrangers and GWV Rebels in their opening two rounds.
Kennedy said she also had a clear directive on developing the person first and player second.
It’s a trait that, as a former PE teacher, Kennedy has long honed.
“The most important thing for me is enjoyment,” she said.
“Being happy and enjoying your time in footy is the number one priority, as I think you’ll only get the best out of yourself and out of each other if you’re happy and you’re enjoying the opportunity – and the same goes for the coaching staff as well.
“I do feel a sense of responsibility to set a good example for these young women, but I think that enjoyment and love of the sport is going to become even more important as the sport starts to grow.
“‘Breezer’ (O’Bree) and I are really clear on the culture we want set at the Bendigo Pioneers and that’s really important to me – we want to set standards and expectations and give those young men and women in our program the best opportunity to develop both on and off the field.”
O’Bree said he felt passionate about the Swan Hill region for many reasons.
“A lot of kids that are coming through the system now are kids of parents that I’ve either played footy with, or went to school with, or played footy against, so it’s pretty cool to see life come full circle,” he said.
“You sort of want those kids to succeed just as much as anyone, but it can be challenging when you have to move them on or make a hard call – but by the same token, it’s also pretty cool when you get to work closely with them and be key part of their footballing life at least.”
BENDIGO PIONEERS UNDER 18 BOYS SQUAD
James Barrat (Leitchville-Gunbower)
Will Burke (Donald)
Thomas Cox (Sea Lake-Nandaly Tigers)
Jed Daniels (Sea Lake-Nandaly Tigers)
Logan Geddes (Donald)
Glen Gillbee (Balranald)
Pala Kuma (Robinvale-Euston)
Taj McMillan (Swan Hill)
Oskar Smartt (Leitchville-Gunbower)
BENDIGO PIONEERS UNDER 18 GIRLS SQUAD
Jenna Bannam (Woorinen)
Carlee Hazlett (Woorinen)
Sam Johnston (Woorinen)
Brydi Lewis (Woorinen)
Sophie McClelland (Woorinen)
Gaby Sanford (Woorinen)
