AFL Broken Hill has announced former Central Football Club head coach Greg Wellington will be coach for the Broken Hill representative side which traditionally takes on a Far North League of South Australia representative side in a one-off clash Miners Cup.
Having been out of footy since retiring as Central coach at the end of last season, you’d be forgiven for thinking it was a hard decision for Wellington to make. It wasn’t.
“I jumped at the chance. It’s going to be an amazing experience and one I am really looking forward to,” Wellington told the Truth.
“I watched the rep game not last year but the year before and was really impressed. The talent that Broken Hill put out there, I’m looking forward to grabbing the reins and seeing what I can do with them.”
AFL Broken Hill President, Andrew Schmidt, and the board of the competition are big fans of the representative concept and are very happy to see it returning this year. And they are delighted that Wellington is taking the reins this year.
“We approached Greg because we were very impressed with how he handled himself with the Central Footy Club over the last two years,” said Mr Schmidt.
“Greg has spoken to both the senior players and the four clubs and they all have indicated they are supportive of the concept and representative footy.”
Wellington is a good fit for the position, particularly given his experience coaching other representative sides around the country. And he intends to use all that experience in his new role.
“I’ll be opening it up to open training and out of those training sessions and what I see on the weekends, I’ll pick the side. That’s how you would tend to run rep sides I have coached in the past. That way everyone has an opportunity to be part of the squad.”
He says, taking a squad of players who play ‘the Broken Hill way’ is an exciting prospect and helped attract him to the role.
“What I am really looking for is guys who wear their hearts on their sleeve for their respective club, and live and breathe Broken Hill football.
“I am a big fan of that style of football. So, to take it down to the middle of Adelaide and really put on a display of Broken Hill footy, it’s very exciting.”
This year the clash will be the curtain raiser to the round seven SANFL match between North Adelaide and Port Adelaide at Prospect Oval on May 27.
