THE Bathurst Giants have pulled off a massive double-coup ahead of their maiden season in the Central West AFL senior competition, announcing a coaching partnership that they hope will, in the long term at least, lead to plenty of success.
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Former Bathurst Bushrangers premiership coach Mark Kennedy has been revealed as the head coach of the Giants outfit, and he will be assisted by Jordan Longmore.
Longmore booted five goals and was unlucky to miss out on best-on-ground honours in last year’s first grade grand final, where he played with Bushrangers against Orange.
He has been part of the Bushrangers set-up, and the Bathurst Eagles before that, for almost his entire footballing life and his departure will come as a major blow for his old club.
Kennedy coached the Bushrangers to a title win in 2012 and they were on track to make it two in a row before being upset by Orange the following year in their only defeat all season.
It came as a surprise to many when he wasn’t retained for 2014, but the club elected to go in a different direction under the guidance of Brett and Matt Archer.
With two Bushrangers teams in the competition this year, Kennedy put his hand up for a job with the second side, but instead was offered a position coaching one of two Bushrangers women’s teams.
He says he is excited about the decision he has made and isn’t worried about the reality of breaking ties with his former club.
“The side that I coached in that premiership has changed dramatically now. There are a lot of players who have come and gone,” Kennedy said.
“Probably the hardest thing is that I’ll be coaching against my son [Sam] who is playing with the Bushrangers this year. Football is football, that’s what it is all about.
“I can totally understand what the AFL is trying to do by promoting the women’s game, but that’s not what I wanted to do. I’ve got a passion for coaching senior men’s footy and I really wanted to get back into it.
“The opportunity was given to me and given how much I love a challenge, it was something I jumped at.
“You don’t do these jobs because they are easy, you do them because of the challenge and the idea of trying to make a difference.”
Kennedy understands that the goals he will have to set for the Giants will be far removed from those he had when he was at the helm of the Bushrangers.
Longmore will be easily his biggest asset as far as players go, though he is confident that with an influx from Mudgee, who don’t have a senior team this year, and a handful of other experienced recruits, there will be enough to work with.
Moreover, he wants to set a standard that the club can follow for years to come.
“The wins will start to come eventually but, for the time being, we have to remember that we have a club coming into an established competition and it is my role to try to set the benchmark right from the start, set a good philosophy that the under 18s players can follow when they come into the side,” Kennedy explained.
“It would have been nice in an ideal world to come into reserve grade first, but that isn’t an option with the structure the way it is.
“There are going to be some challenges in trying to coach players who have no AFL background, but even at the Bushrangers that was an issue.
“Around here you get players from all sporting backgrounds. It isn’t like Wagga or maybe somewhere like Murray-Ovens where all the players have grown up playing AFL.”
Kennedy will dive head-first into the job tomorrow evening at George Park 1, with any interested players invited to attend for a casual session from 5pm onwards which will conclude with a barbecue.
