By David Nagel
The future of the Narre Warren Football Netball Club is in very good hands after the appointment of Glenn Dale as the club’s under-19 coach for next year.
The former Berwick, Emerald and Lang Lang senior coach has had a couple of years away from the game but is full of enthusiasm as he prepares to develop the next crop of up-and-coming Magpie stars.
Dale coached Berwick for two years in 2009, ’10 and blooded some future senior premiership players like Luke Sheppard, Tim Gunn, Andrew Morozoff, Tom Brennan and Riley Heddles in his two-year stint at the club.
While this is his first taste of coaching under-age football, his passion for developing young players is going to be a huge asset to the Magpies moving forward.
The former Clayton, Ferntree Gully and Scoresby player in the Eastern Football League can’t wait to get his hands on the wheel.
“I’ve never coached junior football before but just the idea of making kids better footballers and adding some different layers to their football journey is really exciting,” Dale said.
“When I was a senior coach I always wanted my under-19 coach to be developing senior footballers and that was the top priority.
“On top of that you might win a premiership or play finals, but development has to be the focus and making every single player on the list better.
“Creating better footballers develops some great opportunity for the players.
“Senior football might be there go, but there’s no reason they can’t be even better than that. It could be Stingrays or VFL, there’s no absolutely no ceiling on what young kids can do and you need to treat them that way.
“I had offers to coach in senior football, but this is inviting, it’s exciting, and looks fun and I can’t wait to get stuck into it with the boys.”
Dale, who has also been a backline coach at Casey under Brett Lovett, said joining Narre Warren as a coach was a great feeling…with him having so much respect for the club.
“I’ve always had respect for Narre Warren, because cultures like this don’t just come about, they have to be built, and the culture at Narre is second to none in the region,” Dale said.
“At Berwick, we played the kids, played the kids, and the culture builds, and that’s what Narre Warren has done in spades.
“Everyone is friendly, but more importantly than that they’re actually friends, and that is really shining through in my early days at the club…they’re really close knit and it’s a pretty unique type of feeling.”
Dale said after a short-stint away from the game he can’t wait to immerse himself in a club environment again.
“I love my footy,” he said.
“I love the culture, the environment, and how everyone is happy at a footy club, we’re all there for the same reason.
“We’ll try our best to win games and develop players the best we can, but we can still have a lot of fun along the way. Before you know it you’re out of juniors and playing seniors, so let’s enjoy it and make it a really positive experience.”
Dale said there was great opportunity to pull on the famous black and white stripes in season 2022.
“We’re in a transition period at the moment where we might have 15 or 16 new players coming through the ranks, that’s something different and something I’m very excited by,” he said.
“I’ve built some good relationships with some players already and I can’t wait to meet them on the track.”
