FOR Ben Dyett, when it comes to football nothing beats the pride he takes in watching one of his under-18 players get their first opportunity at senior level.

Sure, the premierships are sweet - and there have been five of them throughout his long career - but those flags take a backseat when it comes to seeing players develop from raw under-18 talent to senior footballers.

"It's always great to see a player give you a bit of a thumbs up and a cheeky grin as they run out to play their first senior game of football," Dyett said this week.

"Premierships of course are nice to win, but they are only relevant to the year you're playing.

"But seeing the development of kids is so much more important... I love seeing what Nick Stagg has been able to go on and do; Lee Coghlan and Tim Martin, who have both gone on to win Michelsen medals, the list goes on."

Dyett will this weekend reach a significant milestone when he coaches his 400^th game of under-age football as part of a career that takes in stints at five clubs.

While he has also coached at reserves level with Corio in Geelong and YCW, including winning a Loddon Valley league flag with the Eagles, his under-age career takes in stints with Northern United (1994-95); Sandhurst (1996-2008); Kangaroo Flat (2010-14) and North Bendigo (2019); while he is now coaching Maiden Gully YCW.

It's through his 13-season stint at Sandhurst that Dyett is most renowned for given the under-18 success the Dragons savoured under his guidance.

Dyett coached the Dragons to five BFNL under-18 premierships - 1996, 2001, 2005, 2006 and 2008 - as well as leading the side to grand finals in 1999, 2002 and 2004.

"It was an enormous 13 years at Sandhurst and I was fortunate to coach some great players and also coach against some amazing players from other clubs," Dyett said.

"I've had 136 players who have made their senior debut while they were still in the under-18s."

Among the plethora of up-and-coming players Dyett had the opportunity to coach at Sandhurst were the four Selwoods - Troy, Adam, Joel and Scott - who last month created history by setting the new VFL/AFL record for the most games played by a set of brothers.

"Joel (327 AFL games and still going) was always going to get drafted ever since he was 11 or 12 years old and he's obviously had a great 300-game career," Dyett said.

"Troy (75 AFL games) was probably too hard for his own good and had to end up retiring due to concussion.

"Adam (187 AFL games) was silky smooth and Scott (169 AFL games) was a solid under-18 player who I use to bench a bit because he'd turn the ball over a lot. But I remember him playing a really good game in the 2006 grand final for us and he went on to win a best and fairest at West Coast."

Looking back on his career, Dyett believes one of his greatest attributes is coaching his players to coach themselves, likening his approach to that of a school teacher at the start of a new year.

"Every year I tell the kids the same thing at the start of a season, and that is that I'm going to coach them in a way so that when it comes to finals and if for whatever reason I can't be there then they can say, well, we don't need him here anyway, we know what we're meant to do and how we're supposed to play," Dyett said.

"It's just about giving kids the ownership of what happens in games, selection and team moves out on the ground in terms of the leaders.

"They start off a little bit like kids in the classroom and by the of the end of the season they are fully-functional footballers who really don't need their coach on the day."

Of his 399 games as an under-age coach, Dyett has won 254.

Dyett will reach his 400-game milestone on Saturday when Maiden Gully YCW hosts Bridgewater.

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