John is a farmer from Charlton in country Victoria. He was born there and still lives there. He coached Charlton FC reserves for two years and the seniors for five years, winning three premierships and coached the local North Central interleague team for a three or four years in this time. Whilst he no longer is the Charlton coach, he is still on the match committee for Charlton and very involved with the club.

So really with the appointment of John Cossar, the VCFL have rewarded a country coach who has achieved a great deal with his club and league, and now promoted him to the higher level . So for your matter of principle, maybe you are right with Peter Knights, but appointing someone like John seems to be exactly what you have asked for.

As a sidenote, I think it would be extremely difficult for a person who is the current coach of a club, to coach the statewide VCFL rep team. Clearly, you would need to get around to a range of club games early in the year, not just the interleague games (even so, with all interleague games on Super Saturday you could probably on watch one). This way the coach gets a look at the players and pick the best team.

Hutchy

Hi John,
Here are a few questions for my uni assignment interview

1. What were the main differences between the drafting process when you played for Richmond compared to the drafting processes in your coaching career?

In my early days it was open to all the country whoever made the best approaches (what club) won the recruit. The recruiting was based on personality and honesty.
Do you believe the drafting process has changed greatly since your career ended in 1998?
There have been many changes over the years, zoning came in, then territories were changed meaning a lot of clubs missed out on great recruits. Clubs of course were not happy and the drafting procedure took place.

2. What was the main thing that you looked for when selecting potential recruits for your club? Was it solely the best player, best player suited for the team etc. Did character come into it at all?

It was generally the needs of the team, personality of the player and making sure the family of the boy were happy for him to be drafted to our club. Many clubs selected the best player however this has turned out to be disastrous on many occasions

3. Did you personally interview potential recruits or was that left to the footy manager or recruiting manager?

I always felt it very important to meet with the player and his parents. To me recruiting is a two way situation, we need to know about their son and they need to know about our club and in particular who the people are that were being entrusted to look after their son.

4. How much input did you get into what player the club selected?

During the season when a potential recruit was spotted I always endeavoured to watch the potential recruits.

5. What do you think about the psych/mental testing currently used at the draft camp? Do you find it to be a relevant exercise?

This is very important it really gives you an indepth about the recruit, his behaviour, personality and likely work ethic.
He may not be the best player have the silky skills of others however may still be the best recruit because of other attributes.
Thanks a lot for helping me out with this, massively helpful.

the articles about the different positions are great, i need to teach guys the basics of a position and these fit perfectly. I was just wondering if you have one about the forward flank position too? i know you have put the forward pockets in with the full forward position, but i would appreciate one for the flanks. Thanks.