A former St Kilda AFL player who grew up in Moorabool has returned to coach a local side, and says he\u2019s excited to see what 2024 has to offer.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Payne also has experience as an assistant coach at Melton and more recently Port Melbourne, and said that while he \u201cdoesn\u2019t want to reinvent the wheel\u201d at Gordon, there are a few ideas and lessons he\u2019s picked up over the years.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have my own twist on how I want the side to play\u2026obviously we\u2019re going to be \u2018the hunted\u2019 by every other team, but I want to reinforce to the boys that we\u2019ve been the best side the past two seasons, so let\u2019s go out and show everyone why we\u2019ve won the last two premierships. It\u2019s about keeping the hunger within the boys,\u201d he told the Moorabool News.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve retained everyone from the 2023 premiership side, which was my main goal coming in. We\u2019ve got a couple more players coming in which will be announced pretty soon I reckon, but we\u2019re sort of keeping that under wraps until it becomes official.\u201d<\/p>\n
The allure of being a part of the CHFL\u2019s first-ever \u2018threepeat\u2019 is certainly in Payne\u2019s mind \u2013 but he\u2019s trying not to get too distracted by it.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s hard to not get swept up in that being the focus\u2026it\u2019s that classic footy clich\u00e9 of one week at a time really, you don\u2019t want to be looking too far ahead,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAdam 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\u2019s probably kept a few of the older boys around for one more year to see what they can get out of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
A major lesson learnt from his experience in the footy system, Payne says, is just how crucial communication is.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom when I was a player, I know how I want to be treated by the coach. That\u2019s what I think I\u2019m bringing to the players now that I\u2019m on the other side. I\u2019m not a yeller or a screamer, that\u2019s probably the main thing I got from being at Port Melbourne last year \u2013 how important communicating to your players is,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe 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\u2019s get something out of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gordon\u2019s 2024 campaign, and Payne\u2019s first test as coach, begins on Saturday 13 April, in what is sure to be a cracking match against Dunnstown at Gordon Recreation Reserve.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A former St Kilda AFL player who grew up in Moorabool has returned to coach a local side, and says he\u2019s 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 […]<\/p>\n