Peter, that’s a very impressive record, coaching South Rovers’ under 17.5 side to three consecutive premierships. What are your memories of those victories?
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They were all very special wins. I’ll never forget the first one. We were playing Merrivale and were down by a point at three-quarter-time and we came out and kicked 10 goals in the last quarter.
We just got on a roll and the boys kept on going.
We were the underdogs in 2015. Merrivale were the hot favourites.
They beat us by 10 goals early in the season but we were really focused on grand final day.
We got the jump on them and stayed in front all day.
The boys were really fit and disciplined and that showed in the end.
For the 2016 season, we topped up our list and ended up being premiers and champions.
We defeated Dennington to win our third consecutive flag.
Where did your coaching career head after the three premiership wins in 2014, 2015 and 2016?
I took over as the assistant coach of the seniors at South Rovers. Adam Matheson was the senior coach.
The senior side improved in 2017. I was assistant coach again in 2018.
We picked up a few of our old junior players.
That move gave us greater depth.
The senior side made the finals for the first time in seven years, which was a very positive result.
Just a few weeks ago you were appointed as the senior coach of Russells Creek for 2019. How did that appointment come about?
I had discussions with Mick Jongebloed and a couple of the boys from Russells Creek two years ago, but I had already committed to the assistant coach job at South Rovers.
Then Russells Creek president Jason Russell and Mick Jongebloed got in contact with me again a few weeks ago.
I had an original chat to them and it all went well before I went back for another interview and it was really positive.
We’re all on the same page, so I signed up as coach for the 2019 season.
I’m really impressed with the direction that Russells Creek is heading in as a club. The foundations are in place for the club to be successful again.
We have some very talented young players on their list.
We’ve already signed up nine new players for next season and a few other signatures are pending.
We’ve spoken to more than 25 players over the last few weeks to see if they are interested in playing at Creek for next season.
Our president Jason Russell, Mick Jongebloed and Huck Barker are doing wonderful jobs in trying to recruit new players to the club. I can see it’s going to be a really exciting time to be involved with Creek in 2019.
When does the club start preseason training for 2019?
We start on November 19. We’ll have eight sessions before Christmas.
We’re going to work very intensely before Christmas on the player fitness.
We’ve got Matt Murry working in the fitness area, and after Christmas we’ll be working on structures and drills.
One of the areas which I want to concentrate on is to put the fun back into the footy for the players.
We’re not an AFL side. I think so many people lose that point.
We’ll be fully focused on game day, but I want the players to enjoy the experience of playing footy with Russells Creek.
Peter, you’ve been involved in WDFNL footy for many years. What’s your opinion of the standard of footy in the league?
It’s not bad, but there’s a big gap between the top four sides and the rest of the league.
The powerhouse sides like Nirranda and Old Collegians are very good.
We’re not kidding ourselves, we’ve got to make up a lot of ground at Russells Creek to mix it with the top sides. But I think that with time we can change things around.
I hope we’ll be very competitive In 2019 and be even better in 2020, but as I said it’s a very good keen competition.
Peter, where did your footy career begin?
I started off playing in the under 9s with St Johns. They were affiliated with Warrnambool.
I played with St Johns for a few seasons before going out to play with Allansford’s under 14 side.
My dad was on the committee at Allansford.
I played my first senior game with Allansford when I was 17 years old.
I won the best and fairest award in the under 18s at Allansford before being runner-up in the senior best and fairest award.
I played senior footy at Allansford under coaches like Kevin McVilly, Mick Hamblin and Robin Bayne.
I joined Warrnambool in 1995 under Mark O’Keeffe.
I was in and out of the senior side at the Blues.
I moved to Albury for work and continued my career there.
What was your line of work?
I had worked at the Warrnambool Woollen Mill for years before it closed and then I was transferred up to Albury. I played footy for a side called Rand when I was in Albury.
They played in one of the minor leagues.
I stayed there for two years before moving back home and when I came back I played in the reserves with Warrnambool.
Then I went back out to Allansford.
I had a couple of years off after that, but the footy bug got me again so I joined East Warrnambool under Jason Rea. We struggled in the first year, but I played in the preliminary final the next year when Jess Densley was the Bombers’ coach in 2004.
My playing career ended at East Warrnambool.
I’ve always been interested in coaching as I love to see players improve both on and off the field.
