TOOLEYBUC-Manangatang will have a new, but somewhat familiar face, leading them into season 2022, with former Mallee Eagles head coach Dean Helmers to take the reins.
Helmers will take over as senior coach of the Saints from Damien Lock, who after being re-appointed for next season by Tooleybuc-Manangatang, recently notified the club of his intentions to instead step aside due to the difficulties of travelling.
Helmers comes to the Saints with an impressive pedigree, having taken over as senior coach at the Mallee Eagles ahead of the 2017 season.
He led the club into the finals in his first season in charge, finishing third on the ladder, before leading the Eagles to back-to-back Grand Final appearances in 2018 and 2019.
While this season didn’t quite go to plan for Tooleybuc-Manangatang, having finished winless and on the bottom of the ladder, Helmers is nonetheless excited by the opportunity a new challenge presents, as he discussed with The Guardian earlier this week.
“To be honest, I think my whole family are very excited about it – it’s another adventure and another opportunity for me to do what I love doing and that’s coaching footy,” Helmers said.
“It’s certainly going to be a big challenge, which is sort of what attracted me to it in a way; I’m excited for it but I’m realistic, it’s not something that’s going to turn around over night, but we’ll get there.”
While under no illusion as to the task that’s in front of them, Tooleybuc-Manangatang president Rick Plant was comfortable that his club have found the right man to lift the Saints up and start their climb off the bottom of the ladder.
“Dean comes in with a clean slate and without any preconceived ideas, as well as being an experienced coach and with fresh ideas, which is what we’ve kind of been looking for these last few seasons,” Plant said.
“The other positive is we now have a local coach signed up for longer than 12 months, so we aren’t going to be chopping and changing senior coaches – we’re not expecting to set the world on fire next year, we know we’re obviously going to be coming from a long way back and that it will be a couple of year process.
“We’re very happy to have Dean aboard – we had a chat to him when we knew he wasn’t going to have a role back at the Mallee Eagles, but obviously we had Damien (Lock) signed up for next year and at the time we probably couldn’t do too much because we had committed to him.
“From a club perspective, we’ve had a couple of challenges these last few years in trying to get a fresh voice and trying to get a fresh set of eyes on everything and what we’ve tried from a coaching perspective hasn’t exactly worked, so to get a local coach with plenty of experience is great because that was one of the key criteria that we were hoping to tick off.”
While no doubt excited about what the future holds with Helmers in charge, Plant was more than a little miffed about the exit of their now former coach Lock.
“We’re happy enough with the way it’s turned out, but yeah, we were a bit annoyed,” Plant said.
“I understand his circumstances, but just the timing of it was what disappointed me the most to be honest – the last game was at the end of August and if we had of known back then it would have made things a lot less stressful.
“But with that said, I think it’s probably a positive in the way it turned out; with a local coach, the training standards will be better and even just with the players having to train harder because you know someone’s going to be there keeping an eye on them all the time.”
While Tooleybuc-Manangatang aren’t expected to challenge for the premiership next season, the rebuild towards their first senior premiership since 2007 is on the right path, according to Helmers.
“My main aim is to just make sure that whoever’s there next season, that they are going to get the best training and best coaching possible – I’ll be trying to fast track the kids and just bring a bit of a spark back around the place,” Helmers said.
“In terms of recruits for next season, we probably need to sit down as a club and find out who is staying and whose going; we’ve still got plenty of time before Round 1 to recruit, but the focus at this stage is still on the current list.”
As for facing off against the club he coached for four seasons, Helmers was once again looking forward to the challenge.
“I can’t see there being too much animosity when we meet; I’ve put my heart and soul into that place for the last five years and the two clubs are at completely different stages,” Helmers said.
“They (Mallee Eagles) are realistically going to be at the pointy end, especially the way they finished the season off, whereas we are coming from a long way back – but I’m excited and I’m ready for the challenge.
“I don’t think too many people think I’m going to turn it around over night, I know I certainly don’t, but I’ve got no doubt we will be improving, that’s for sure.”
