Shane Fleming
KOONDROOK-Barham has parted ways with senior coach Aaron Collins just six games into his tenure.
Collins, who led the club to one win and five losses in the first six rounds of the Central Murray Football Netball League, was
informed last Wednesday of the club’s
decision.
Collins outlined his disappointment at the club’s change in
direction when speaking with The Guardian late last week.
“Probably the most frustrating thing was there was no communication prior to their decision –
nobody came to me and said there was an issue, they’ve just made this call and that’s the end of it,” Collins said.
“You just can’t do that in a football club, it doesn’t look good – I’ve never seen anything like it before and I’ve been around footy for a long time, it can be brutal and I suppose I’ve faced the brutal side of it here.
“I thought we were starting to show some signs of improvement, to be honest – when we had a full side we were pretty competitive, as we showed against Tyntynder, but with injuries and having played good sides along the way, that hasn’t helped.”
Collins replaced club veterans Shane Guerra and Dean McGowan as senior coach at the end of last season. He came to the Raiders with an impressive pedigree, which included coaching Jacana Football Club in the EDFL for two seasons – including a grand final appearance in 2015 – as well as coaching Reservoir in the Northern Football League for two seasons.
He believed he was the right fit for Koondrook-Barham.
“This club needs to be steady, they need a new culture, they need somebody to lead them out of the wilderness and get them playing
finals again and I thought I could do that – it’s just extremely disappointing how it’s all played out,” he said.
Koondrook-Barham club president Greg Lake, who spoke with The Guardian at the weekend, said the reason for Collins’ removal was due to a disconnect between players and coach.
“There’s no animosity whatsoever – Aaron’s a fantastic guy, a really good bloke, but there was just a bit of a distance between the players and the coach,” Lake said.
“Aaron and I had a good chat on Monday, which to me having a good chat with the leadership group following that conversation and they informed me that they felt they weren’t really gelling as a group the way they’d have liked and the way we hoped they would.”
“Aaron probably needed a bit more time to get what he wanted in place through the off-season but that obviously wasn’t possible, so we agreed to part ways – Aaron’s a great fella, there’s no animosity and we wish him all the best.”
The search will now begin for Collins replacement, with Lake hoping an interim coach will be in place in the coming days.
“We have a couple of ideas in the pipeline but there’s nothing concrete just yet – we’re still in the process of working through those decisions, but I’d hope we’ll have something in place by tomorrow (Tuesday) night,” Lake said.
“Fortunately, we’ve got a pretty good leadership group and they’re very understanding and have been kept very much in the loop as to what’s happening and how were going to go about things.
“We’ll be just looking for someone to step in and continue to build – that’s what Aaron was trying to do, just build the playing group up and teach the younger guys the way to play, so we’ll just continue down those lines.”
Koondrook-Barham had the bye at the weekend, with the Raiders game against Swan Hill at home this Saturday set to be their first under a new coach.
