Lara has turned to the former head of development at VFL club Port Melbourne to fill its vacant coaching role.
The GFNL club this afternoon unveiled Brett Henderson as its replacement for co-coaches Shayne Stone and Devon Smith less than 48 hours after its season ended with a loss to wooden spooner St Albans.
Henderson, who has signed an initial two-year deal, has been a face in the crowd at recent Cats games but hasn’t been deterred by recent results.
“The club’s been laying a little bit dormant for a number of years now, but I reckon it’s the sense of community that appealed to me,” Henderson said.
“It’s a reasonable-sized town, Lara.
“I’ve seen their last couple of games, and I think there’s some potential there and some ability there.
“We’ve just got to try and bring it all together and add some players, and hopefully, we can see ourselves climb the ladder.”
Originally from Echuca, Henderson also held an assistant coaching role under Torquay and East Geelong premiership coach Adam Skrobalak at Port Melbourne.
He has also served as head of development at Williamstown and coached the Bendigo Pioneers when the Victorian Talent League was known as the TAC Cup.
As well as Skrobalak, Henderson has worked with highly-rated trio Peter German, Andy Collins, and Justin Plapp while at the Seagulls.
At local level, he coached Echuca to consecutive Goulburn Valley league preliminary finals in 2010-11 and was named coach of the team of the decade for 1995-2005 at Riverina club Leeton-Whitton.
Henderson played with Sebastapol in the Ballarat league, Sandhurst in Bendigo, and had a season with East Perth in the WAFL.
High on his priority list is player retention, with several senior players linked to clubs in the Bellarine and GDFNL.
“We’re going to have a good young list, but, obviously, we want to retain the current list and add a little bit to it,” Henderson said.
“If we can retain most of the list, I think that’s going to be a huge plus for us.
“We’ve got some quality guys ready to jump on board at Lara.
“I think we can get a bit of momentum going with the young guys we’ve got there, and just adding these three, four, five, six experienced players.”
Henderson is keen to work with the club’s talented youngsters, including graduates from its under-18 team who booked a berth in this week’s AFL Barwon Division 2 grand final.
“I’ll pop along and have a look at it and see what the talent is at that level,” Henderson said.
“I haven’t seen a game of footy at under-18 div two level, so I’ll go and watch a grand final to start with, which is great.
“Hopefully, the boys can get a win.”
President Chris Spence says the Cats are “incredibly excited” by Henderson’s appointment.
“For our club to attract such an experienced coach to guide our senior squad gives the players and committee huge encouragement,” Spence said.
“It also reinforces that the hard work done by Shayne Stone and Devon Smith and the rest of our football department to raise our competitiveness, has not gone unnoticed by those outside the club and even beyond the GFNL.
“We also have a solid pipeline of talented youngsters coming through our junior program and are convinced that Brett is the right man to lead our coaching and support team, as we mould our juniors into future senior players.”
Henderson’s appointment follows that of Rick Munn at St Albans last mont, and leaves Colac, Leopold, and Newtown & Chilwell searching for replacements.
North Shore has also been encouraged by incumbent Darren Winter to test the market.
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