THIS year’s Heathcote District leading goalkicker Danny Brewster is taking over the reins as coach of Elmore in 2017.
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Brewster has spent the past two seasons with the Bloods and takes over as coach from Alex Gleeson.
It will be Brewster’s second coaching gig having previously led Neerim South in Gippsland for a season in 2012.
“It has been an enjoyable couple of years at Elmore and the opportunity was there to coach next season, so I thought I’d take it,” Brewster said on Thursday.
The Bloods this season made the finals for the first time since 2011 under Gleeson, who has indicated a potential move overseas next year.
One confirmed departure for the Bloods is Jesse Smith, who will be coaching Portarlington in the Bellarine league next year.
A high priority for Brewster is retaining the bulk of this year’s list and capitalising on the one-point deduction players receive for each year of service to a club.
The Bloods regularly ran close to their limit of 46 points per week this year.
“We’ve looked at that straight away and we’ll be aiming to keep 80 to 90 per cent of the guys we had this year,” Brewster said.
“It looks positive we’ll be able to do that, which is important given everyone drops down a point next year.”
While the Bloods made the finals this year – they lost the elimination final to Colbinabbin by 82 points – they were 0-9 against the four teams above them, with an average losing margin of 72 points.
“We’re under no illusion that we can’t just keep what we’ve got and expect to compete with the top sides,” Brewster said.
“We’ll look to top up in a couple of areas, and hopefully, have that improvement that comes with having played together for a year.”
Brewster won this year’s league goalkicking with 84, which included three double-figure bags – 11 v Mount Pleasant, 12 v Heathcote and 10 v White Hills.