Saint to lead the Eagles

A former St Kilda AFL player who grew up in Moorabool has returned to coach a local side, and says he’s excited to see what 2024 has to offer.

Brenton Payne, who played two seasons with St Kilda and won flags with Southport and Melton, grew up in Bacchus Marsh, but has taken on the role of 2024 Senior Coach at Gordon.

Payne also has experience as an assistant coach at Melton and more recently Port Melbourne, and said that while he “doesn’t want to reinvent the wheel” at Gordon, there are a few ideas and lessons he’s picked up over the years.

“I have my own twist on how I want the side to play…obviously we’re going to be ‘the hunted’ by every other team, but I want to reinforce to the boys that we’ve been the best side the past two seasons, so let’s go out and show everyone why we’ve won the last two premierships. It’s about keeping the hunger within the boys,” he told the Moorabool News.

“We’ve retained everyone from the 2023 premiership side, which was my main goal coming in. We’ve got a couple more players coming in which will be announced pretty soon I reckon, but we’re sort of keeping that under wraps until it becomes official.”

The allure of being a part of the CHFL’s first-ever ‘threepeat’ is certainly in Payne’s mind – but he’s trying not to get too distracted by it.

“It’s hard to not get swept up in that being the focus…it’s that classic footy cliché of one week at a time really, you don’t want to be looking too far ahead,” he said.

“Adam Toohey has done a great job getting those premierships as playing coach, and he probably felt the time was right for a new voice, and that’s probably kept a few of the older boys around for one more year to see what they can get out of it.”

A major lesson learnt from his experience in the footy system, Payne says, is just how crucial communication is.

“From when I was a player, I know how I want to be treated by the coach. That’s what I think I’m bringing to the players now that I’m on the other side. I’m not a yeller or a screamer, that’s probably the main thing I got from being at Port Melbourne last year – how important communicating to your players is,” he said.

“The way I deliver my messages is going to be vitally important to our success this year. I also want to change up the footy norm at training to put us under more game-like pressure, rather than lane work and just those boring, gap-filling drills. Let’s get something out of it.”

Gordon’s 2024 campaign, and Payne’s first test as coach, begins on Saturday 13 April, in what is sure to be a cracking match against Dunnstown at Gordon Recreation Reserve.