Bombers chase Maddern

THE Bendigo Bank Bombers’ new era will begin on Monday night with their first pre-season training session at Beischer Park.The Bombers will go into the 2010 VFL season with a new coach in Shannon Grant, a new two-year alignment deal with Essendon signed, and only a senior team following the decision to abandon the reserves after five unsuccessful seasons.With only a senior team, the Bombers will have just 21 spots on their list, ensuring their recruiting can be focused more on quality, rather than quantity.“Hopefully, in the next couple of weeks we will be able to get some good players signed up and ready to go,” Grant said yesterday.“We’ve got interest from some good players, but at this time of year there are a lot of players hopeful of getting drafted or rookied, so it’s pretty hard to get the quality ones signed up and put away at this stage because they are hoping to either get an AFL start or resurrect their AFL career.”One player the Bombers are hotly pursuing is star Kangaroo Flat full-forward Justin Maddern, who previously played VFL with Bendigo from 2003 to 2007. Maddern was the leading goalkicker in the BFL this year, finishing the season with 96 goals, which included at least five goals in 12 of his 21 games.“I’ve spoken to Justin a few times, and he’s keen to get back into it,” Grant said.“He will start training with the group on Monday and hopefully, we can put him to bed quickly and get him involved with us.”As part of the Bombers’ new structure, the Bendigo-based list, which will include a development squad, will be overseen by a yet-to-be appointed development coach.Grant, who will be based in Melbourne, takes the reins as Bombers’ coach after a stellar AFL career in which he played 301 games for Sydney and North Melbourne between 1995 and 2008.He won the 1999 North Smith Medal for North Melbourne in its 35-point win over Carlton in the grand final; a game in which Grant had 19 possessions and kicked four goals.Last year he coached Frankston in the VFL, leading the Dolphins to a 3-15 record.The 32-year-old takes over a Bombers side that finished on the bottom of the ladder this year without a win.“It’s a big task, but these are the sort of challenges you want,” Grant said.“If we can build a strong, healthy squad with our VFL list, and Essendon has a strong, emerging group of players coming through as well to complement the VFL list, hopefully, we can be a lot more competitive than we have been in the past.”Grant takes over from Adrian Hickmott, who coached the Bombers for the past two seasons.“Hicky has been great in giving me any advice I need in regards to the alignment and how it has operated in the past,” Grant said.“We’ve had a lot to discuss and he has certainly been very helpful.”