Chris Yeend
Riddell Football Netball Club has welcomed veteran small forward Troy Scoble as senior coach for season 2013 Riddell District Football League. The talented 'pocket rocket' has been with the club as assistant coach to outgoing senior coach Matt Power for the past two seasons and has been a revelation to the club since crossing from the senior coaching role at Melton South in the Ballarat Football League. Scoble has a great football brain and outstanding communication skills that made him a stand-out for the position.
"The club is excited to have him on board," Riddell president Jason Allen said.
Scoble impressed above a number of highly-qualified candidates to be awarded the position. Given their decade of dominance, the Bombers have been mysteriously out of the grand final picture since flags in 2005, '06, '08 and 2010 and Scoble is the man to lead them back to that success. Allen said that his application was very impressive.
"His preparation and groundwork was outstanding," Allen said, "he has a great account of himself, has a great vision of the upcoming success and willingness to help young people."
Scoble crossed to the Bombers last season in which he kicked 11 goals from nine games and then kicked 12 goals from 16 games this season. He coached Melton South and also has a junior coaching position at the Western Jets and much experience working with younger players.
Former South Australian National Football League and Victorian Football League player Mark Power will lead his support team that includes AFL legend Brian Taylor who will spearhead the coaching development and provide a great level of assistance around his media commitments.
"We are over the moon to have him," Allen said, "We (the club) have put together what we feel is a great coaching panel."
SCOBLE IS READY TO GO
Scoble is ready to take the next step up from being assistant coach to close mate and outgoing senior coach Matt Power for the past two seasons.
"I'm rapt, it's a great opportunity to coach Riddell, it is a great town with great people, town and culture," Scoble said.
He has enjoyed working alongside Power over the past two years but it wasn't the first time that the two mates worked alongside each other. During his 16 years with the Melton South Football Club, he spent two years as assistant coach to Power at Darley. It was fitting that the two would join forces again at the Bombers.
Scoble enjoyed the coaching experience at Melton South but the workload was greater. The job was absorbing and the club was low on manpower resources. Scoble was required to do more than just coach and is looking forward to coming into a position in which all he all he needs to worry about is coaching.
"Melton South was a great club (to work with) and (it is) doing really well now," Scoble said.
Riddell is a proud one-club town and the community has been heavily involved in shaping the great culture the club exhibits. This was evident with the construction of the new social rooms earlier this year where a mass percentage of the work was done by community people and the facility has since become a central hub for community events.
Scoble said that he admires clubs like the Sunbury Lions in the Ballarat Football League that have been able to draw similar community support despite having several clubs in the same town.
Scoble will aim to continue to build on the progress that the club has made over the past 18 months and since its last flag in 2010. The senior playing list has had approximately 11 changes in that time but is sitting well for next year. The Under 18.5s and Reserves enjoyed premiership victories this year and the strength of these two teams has been great for the club.
"We have a lot of depth and it gives us a chance to continue to develop players coming up from the Under 18s and Reserves," Scoble said, "I've got around to all of our players from this year and they'll go around again."
There will be up to seven Under 18s stepping up into senior level next year with players such as Lachy Mosele, Matt Darby, Darcy Beddgood, Tim Rowsell, Josh Tobin and Luke Lever ready to take that next step since enjoying senior experience this year. Reserves players such as Matt Vandenberg, Zac Plowman and Joel Morrison are younger players in that squad who will press for senior selection and have enjoyed a great grounding in the Reserves team that went on to defeat Diggers Rest in the grand final this year. Darby, Vandenberg and Jimmy Nolan will look to cement themselves up as a punishing trio in the forward line.
"I'm so excited that there is no pressure to recruit players, the list is there," Scoble said.
He is excited for the support that he has with the assistant coaches Power and Taylor who could get senior coaching positions in their own right. They have all been successful along with reigning premiership coaches Elliott and Power in the Under 18.5s and Reserves.
"I've always wanted to make sure that I've had coaching support," Scoble said.
Will he put on the boots and go for a run again next year?
"I've officially retired, it's time to give the young kids a go," Scoble said.
The club returns to training on Wednesday, November 28, at the Riddell Reserve and all new players are welcome.
Last Modified on 01/11/2012 12:40