Nicol to coach Coutas in 2022

AN ALIGNMENT of values and an exciting young core at the Queenscliff Football Club were the determining factors in the acquisition of the Coutas’ newest head coach.

Rory Nicol, after two seasons away from the coaching game, will lead the pack as Queenscliff’s head coach come the 2022 season.

An Ocean Grove resident, Nicol being the former coach of fellow Bellarine Football League (BFL) team Newcombe Power, longed to take up coaching again.

“I guess I always knew that I wanted to take up coaching again,” Nicol said.

“The timing had just not been right, obviously with COVID being a big factor in that, and the right opportunity just hadn’t come up.

“But after talking to the committee here and seeing how organised they were off the field; this opportunity was just too good to pass up.”

Former coach Steve Clark was mentioned to have done a superb job in getting some
extra playing time into the club’s younger prospects and Nicol is now looking forward to furthering their development during the offseason in what always is a competitive BFL landscape.

“The thing with the BFL is it is very even come two o’clock, if you are not at your best, it is win or lose no matter who you are playing,” Nicol said.

“I think confidence is a major key to it as well, not placing too much emphasis on who we are playing and just playing our brand of football that we will set over pre-season and implement for as long as we can.”

Both Nicol and club president Rowan Martin agreed a consistent theme from last season was Queenscliff had short spurts during games where their opponents made the difference on the scoreboard culminating in preventable losses.

“We were certainly competitive for the first halves of many games, and I think what we are looking for now is to build what Steve Clark has left us, which is a good foundation for Rory to pick up and move further forward,” Martin said.

“When we went through the selection process, we had a lot of good candidates but in the end, Rory was the one aligned the best with the club, so we are very excited to have him on board and there is a bit of a buzz around the club now too.”

Both Nicol and Martin also noted their desire to see the community out and about for the 2022 campaign.