HAMILTON Kangaroos Football Netball Club (HKFNC) has announced its coaches who will lead the Hamilton teams in the Greater South West Junior Football League (GSWJFL) for the 2022 season.

Following his successful 2021 season in the Under-14 competition, Rhett Beattie has moved up to take the reins of the Hamilton Kangaroos’ Under-16.5 team.

Stewart Casey and Craig Templeton will coach the two Under-14 sides, with Josh Bell to lead the youngsters in the Under-11 age group.

Matt Dunn will move back to Hampden Football Netball League (HFNL) coaching duties alongside Bernie Porter, will look after the Under-14 and Under-16 teams.

Templeton was not unfamiliar to coaching junior sport, having gained plenty of experience over the years, he couldn’t wait to get involved in the junior football side of things again.

“(I’m feeling) fantastic, it’s really exciting to be involved with them at this age group because they are so eager and enthusiastic to learn,” he said.

“(The role came about) through natural progression, from conversations throughout the year, it was always in the pipeline.

“To help them improve their football and teach them about the game is a great opportunity, so I’m really looking forward to it.”

With his extensive background in junior sport, Templeton couldn’t wait to bring his wealth of knowledge and new ideas to the Under-14 kids.

To implement new things but continue the development of the kids were some of his main areas of focus in the role for next year.

“I’ve been involved for probably the last five or six years through Auskick and dipping my foot in the water there, Under-11s last year … and just helping out wherever I can,” he said.

“There is no expectation at this level other than to see them develop to whatever they can be, there is no expectations to put pressure on the kids.”

The experienced mentor emphasised the importance of teaching the basics to the kids so they could rise up the ranks into different age groups.

“It’s very important (to work with the other coaches), the fundamentals stay the same all the way through,” he said.

“Getting them to play their best football and finding out what their best football looks like is the challenge for us.

“To find what they need from us to progress and to help the team work together is what it’s all about, just trying to get continual development from them all, you get a kick out of seeing kids improve.”

Casey’s coaching journey traced all the way back to when he coached Penshurst Football Netball Club (PFNC) in the Mininera and District Football League (MDFL) Under-16s many years ago.

He said coaching the Hamilton Under-18 women’s team last year alongside Fraser Robinson reinvigorated his passion for junior football and coaching.

“After doing that, I wanted to get back into it, just the enjoyment of being involved with the kids sport through watching them develop and having a good connection with them,” Casey said.

“We’re doing the Under-14s, just watching Dunny and Rhett last year, it was a great year winning a flag, but it’s just to help the kids develop at a young age and see their basic skills take off as well.

“With Tempy coming in too, hopefully we can give them some different ideas and keep them steady for when they go up to the next level.”

Casey agreed with Templeton in the fact that all the coaches needed to work together in search of the same goal, getting kids active and involved in sport.

“You want the kids playing sport and that’s where towns prosper … I know Tempy and he knows me, so if we are on the same wavelength coaching, even though we’ve got two different sides, we can still discuss their development,” he said.

“Us and the coaches above, if we are on the same wavelength and doing the same things, the kids are going to have the same ideas going through the ranks.”

In setting goals, the focus of both coaches was not on the outcome and on-field results, but instead on the individual growth of the junior players.

While success is always a great bonus, enjoyment was the one thing that could remain regardless of the scoreboard.

“My idea is that from the first training to the last training, (I’ll) see a massive improvement from the kids, if you walk out there (at the end of the year) and that one kid still can’t kick, you haven’t done your job,” Casey said.

“If he can kick or knows the game better than when he started, that’s his next step to the next level.”

Following the significant drop off from kids playing sport, which has been impacted during the past two years with COVID-19 lockdowns and restrictions, Casey said there was never a better time than now for kids to get involved.

“Sporting clubs prosper when you’ve got kids coming up, the falling off rate of kids in sport is massive, we need people enthused, it’s as easy as that.

“The Hampden and GSWJFL, we’ve all got to work together because it’s all the same at the end of the day.”

The club is hosting a training session for all potential GSWJFL and HFNL juniors with a barbecue to be held afterwards.

The session kicks off at 4.30pm tonight at Melville Oval with new and existing players encouraged to attend.