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NEW Bendigo inter-league coach Darryl Wilson will hit the ground running by naming a training squad before the start of the 2019 season.
The Bendigo Football-Netball League announced the appointment of Wilson as coach on Friday for its 2019 AFL Victoria Community Championships match against Outer East in May.
“I’m hoping to get moving on this really quickly in terms of getting assistant coaches, support staff and even the captain in concrete by early in the new year,” Wilson said on Friday.
“I’d also like to name a squad really early as well before the season starts so that the boys know who is part of it and in the mix.
“There would obviously still be scope to bring players in once the season has started, but for the majority of players who we’d expect would be playing, we’d like to get them involved really early and look to possibly have a couple of sessions prior to the season starting and then build it up as it gets closer.”
Wilson has a decorated coaching career in the BFNL that is highlighted by the three flags he won with Strathfieldsaye during his seven-season stint at the Storm between 2011 and 2017 when he built a win-loss record of 107-32-1.
He’s also the last coach to have led Kangaroo Flat into a finals series in 2009, while he’s a triple premiership coach with Colbinabbin in the Heathcote District league.
Wilson takes over the coaching position from Brett Fitzpatrick, who has guided the BFNL inter-league team for the past two years following an earlier stint from 2005 to 2008.
The BFNL is ranked 10th and is fixtured to play a home game against the ninth-ranked Outer East on May 18.
Outer East is a brand new league that is a combination of the former Yarra Ranges and South East leagues.
“We will be really strong on positional selections and not trying to force guys into spots where they don’t normally play and just have a red-hot crack at it,” Wilson said.
“There’s a bit of an unknown in terms of the opposition we’re playing, so we’ll have to do a bit of homework on Outer East.
“But if we can get our side of things right early it will allow us the chance to scope out the opposition well.”
Bendigo has lost its past two inter-league games by less than two kicks – by nine points against Hampden this year and 11 points against arch-rival Ballarat in 2017.
“To be able to appoint a senior coach with the skill set, knowledge and experience of Darryl is a major announcement for the representative team,” BFNL manager Cameron Tomlins said.
“We felt by confirming this appointment as early as possible it would provide Darryl the best chance to achieve his vision and blueprint for success in 2019.”
Under-18 and netball inter-league coaches are still to be confirmed.
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