Join host Mitch Johnstone (Yarraville Club captain-coach) for season two, episode six of the Victorian Turf Cricket Association's 'Off the Long Run'. He was joined by Deer Park skipper Ricky Suvada, Yarraville Club young gun Jackson Martin, VTCA Umpires Director Darren Trewin, Sydenham Hillside coach Geoff Pretty, Grand United gun Nilan Fernando, M…

Join hosts Mitch Johnstone (Yarraville Club captain-coach) for season two, episode five of the Victorian Turf Cricket Association's 'Off the Long Run'. He was joined by Doutta Stars gun Paddy Willach, VTCA President Zoran Havranek, Caroline Springs female team skipper Alicia Fowler, Maribyrnong Park-St Mary's star Daniel Stavris and Footscray Unite…

Join hosts Mitch Johnstone (Yarraville Club captain-coach) and Mick Andreadis (Deer Park coach) for season two, episode two of the Victorian Turf Cricket Association's 'Off the Long Run'. They were joined by Maribyrnong Park-St Mary's star Daniel Stavris and Footscray United coach Shafraz Mohamed to discuss the latest happenings in the VTCA.…

Greg Chappell is one of the most accomplished Cricketers Australia has ever produced. While he was a run machine, he batted with a touch of elegance and grace that few have seen before or since. The second of three brothers to play for Australia, Greg made 7 110 runs in 87 test matches at the superb average of 53.86 to go with his 24 test centuries…

John Buchanan is the most successful international cricket coach in history, with a staggering winning percentage of over 75% across all three formats of the game. While good enough to play seven first class games and one List A game for Queensland in 1978/79, John shifted his focus to education, work and family time over the ensuing 16 years befor…

Heath Scotland was recruited by Collingwood from the Western Jets with pick 44 of the 1998 draft, and played in 53 games with the Pies. He featured in the 2002 and 2003 Grand Final losses to the Brisbane Lions. Crossing to Princes Park for the 2004 season, Heath would best be known for his time at Carlton. His versatility in being able to play thro…

Dan Smith was a swashbuckling and combative former New South Wales wicket-keeper batsman who played 25 first class and 30 List A games for his beloved Blues, as well as featuring for both the Sydney Thunder and Sydney Sixers in the BBL from 2011/12 to 2013/14. At one time, Dan held the New South Wales record for the highest one day score of all tim…

Nick Hegarty had a decorated youth career where he played with Nottingham Forest and Sheffield Wednesday among other clubs, before eventually making over 100 appearances for Grimsby Town as a feisty midfielder in the lower rungs of the English Football league. Nick also featured for St Mirren in the Scottish Premiership before a nasty injury cut hi…

Evan Gulbis represented Victoria, Tasmania, the Hobart Hurricanes and the Melbourne Stars in over 100 games of professional Cricket in First Class, List A and Domestic T20 competition. An aggressive right-handed top order batsman and fast medium bowler who bowls the proverbial heavy ball, Evan boasts a highest score of 229, the second highest score…

Xavier Clarke was recruited by St Kilda with pick 5 of the 2001 National Draft from St Mary’s in the Northern Territory Football League. The man affectionately known as ‘X’ played 105 games for the Saints from 2002 to 2009 as a dashing and highly skilled midfielder, as well as a solitary game for the Brisbane Lions in 2010, in what was a playing ca…

Brendan Joyce has been a wonderful servant of Australian Basketball as both a player and a coach in a career spanning over 40 years. Most notably, he was the coach of the Australian Women’s Basketball team from 2013 to 2016, leading the Opals to the Rio Olympics, while also previously being a long term assistant coach of the Australian Men’s Basket…

Sean Flynn is both a Ringwood Cricket Club and Victorian Premier Cricket legend. The current coach of Ringwood, Sean has been a wonderful servant of the Rams over many years. A Ringwood hall of famer and life member, Flynny played 244 1st XI games, made 5 856 runs and famously captained the club to dual 1st XI premierships in 2007/2008 and 2008/200…

Bryan Harper is the Coach Development Specialist at Cricket Australia and has been in this role for four years. He oversees a range of coach development programs and opportunities, and the accreditation scheme for Cricket coaches in Australia. Harps has had extensive coaching experience, having coached Victorian Premier Cricket powerhouses in the S…

Dav Whatmore played seven tests and one one day international for Australia, and made over 6,000 runs for Victoria, however he is best known for his monumental achievements as a coach. World renown for coaching Sri Lanka to victory in the 1996 World Cup alongside the combative skipper Arjuna Ranatunga, Dav has since gone on to establish himself as …

Matthew Lloyd is an Australian Football Hall of Fame member. As a full-forward, he kicked 926 goals from 270 games with the Essendon Football Club from 1995 to 2009. A member of the Bombers premiership team in 2000, a three time Coleman medalist, five time All Australian and a staggering 12 time Essendon leading goal kicker, Matthew also captained …

Paddy Upton is not your typical Cricket coach. A deep thinker with four different degrees from four different universities, Paddy actually started as the strength and conditioning coach for the South African cricket team in the mid 90’s under the late Bob Woolmer. However, he soon shifted his focus to mental conditioning and performance mindset, an…

Julie Hoornweg is undoubtedly a legend of the Netball coaching world. Internationally acclaimed, Julie has coached England, Fiji and Wales, but is equally well known for her exploits with the Melbourne Phoenix and the Melbourne Vixens. Having coached the Phoenix to the championship in 2005, Julie was appointed the inaugural coach of the newly forme…

Matt O'Connor is currently the assistant coach of the Calder Cannons NAB League boys program, and was also previously the head coach of the Cannons girls program, where he still remains involved despite the restructuring of the NAB program due to the impact of Covid. Aside from his involvement with the Cannons, Matt has also had a range of coaching…

Dean Solomon played 158 games for the Essendon Football Club from 1998-2006, and was an integral part of the incredible Bombers 2000 premiership team, who produced the best season for any team in VFL/AFL history. Known for his uncompromising attack on the footy, Solly played a further 51 games for the Fremantle Dockers from 2007-2009 before retirin…

Gary Ayres is a five time VFL/AFL premiership player, two time Norm Smith medalist and former captain of his beloved Hawks, and of course an Australian Football Hall of Fame member. A tough and uncompromising defender, Gary also won the Hawks best and fairest in 1986 and is a three time All Australian. After hanging up the boots in 1993, Gary’s foc…

Neil Gray is certainly a jack of all trades, and master of many. Neil has held a variety of coaching, leadership, managerial and developmental roles across a myriad of sports, including Cricket, Gridiron, Lawn Bowls, AFLW and Basketball. From 2018 to 2020, Neil was the Coaching and Program Director at the Essendon Maribyrnong Park Cricket Club in V…

Andrew Sturgess is into his second season as the senior coach of the Coburg Football Club in the VFL. Prior to this appointment, he was an assistant coach at the Lions in 2017 under Peter German and then in 2018 under Leigh Adams, before having a stint at Bundoora in the Northern Football League in 2019 as the main man. In our chat with Andrew, we …

Affectionately known as ‘Plough’, Terry Wallace was inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame in 2018. In a truly remarkable playing career, Terry played 254 VFL/AFL games for Hawthorn, Richmond and Footscray, also kicking 123 goals in the process. As a tenacious inside midfielder, Plough won two best and fairests at the Hawks, including i…

Christina Polatajko was recently awarded the AFL Coaches Association Women’s Coaching Pathway Scholarship. Currently the assistant coach of the Hawthorn VFLW team after a brief stint with Carlton’s VFLW side, Christina has been involved in women’s footy for over 15 years as both a player and coach. A passionate Physical Education teacher and the AF…

Pedro Collins played 32 test matches and 30 one day internationals for the West Indies from 1999 to 2006. A left arm swing bowler, Pedro took 106 test wickets and three five wicket hauls, and famously dismissed Sachin Tendulkar three times in the same test series. Aside from playing for his native Barbados, Pedro also had county Cricket stints with…

Jamie Maclaren is a current Socceroo and an undoubted superstar of the A-League. 'Macca' has already accomplished a lot despite only just turning 28. A three time A-League golden boot winner and the second highest goal scorer in A-league history with 104 goals behind Besart Berisha, Jamie is a driven and highly motivated athlete who has been instru…

Omar Phillips played two tests for the West Indies in 2009 against Bangladesh during a time when there was a player strike. Despite the late call-up, Omar quickly acquitted himself and scored 94 on debut. He played a total of 57 first class games for Combined Campuses and Colleges and Barbados, as well as 18 List A games and 5 T20 games. Omar then …

Picked up by the Fremantle Dockers in the 1997 national draft, Brodie Holland played 36 games as a small forward before heading back over the Nullarbor to join Collingwood for the start of the 2001 season. Soon, Brodie quickly established himself at the Pies, playing 119 games in a variety of roles, including as a small forward and a tagger in the …

A legend of South African Cricket, Gary Kirsten played 101 test matches and 185 one day internationals for the Proteas. His remarkable international playing career spanned over a decade, making over 7,000 test runs at an average over 45, and notching up 21 test centuries with a highest score of 275. Following his retirement in 2004, Gary was appoin…

In his role as senior coach, Karl Mayne has been a driving force in establishing Brunswick Cricket Club as a benchmark club in the Subbies competition. Karl was also previously the coach of Carlton-Brunswick Strikers Cricket Club in Victorian Women's Premier Cricket, and has held coaching roles in the Youth Premier League with the Central Highlands…

Kaushal Silva played 39 test matches for Sri Lanka from 2011 to 2018, and made three test centuries, including one against Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon and co in 2016. A gritty and determined top order batsman, and more than capable wicket-keeper, Kaushal played 209 first class games and made just shy of 14 000 runs. Kaushal was the …

A forthright, uninhibited and at times polarising figure, Grant Thomas played 83 VFL games for St Kilda, North Melbourne and Fitzroy from 1978 - 1985, but is undoubtedly best known for his time as the coach of the St Kilda Football Club from 2001 to 2006. Thomas coached 123 games for a 51.2% winning record, is one of three coaches to coach St Kilda…

Russell Barnes played 255 games and won four premierships, including three of them as captain, in Ormond’s golden era during the late 80’s in the Victorian Amateur Football Association. His coaching career has been equally as significant, having coached a raft of clubs in the Ammos since 1994. Home is where the heart is however, and Barney is back …

Shannon Young is the senior coach of Richmond Cricket Club in Victorian Premier Cricket, and won a club championship with the Tigers in 2015/16. Aside from coaching the players of the calibre of Cameron White, Dan Christian and Allan Wise, he has played a pivotal role in the development of the likes of Jake Fraser-McGurk, Wil Parker and Mitch Perry…

In an amazing career, Chris Rogers played 25 test matches for Australia, scoring 5 centuries at a shade under 43 as a determined left-handed opening batsman. He also plundered over 25 000 first class runs in his time in Australian and English first class Cricket. Now the coach of the Victorian male team, Chris is charged with the responsibility of …

Callum Appleyard is an emerging coach in Victorian Premier Cricket. He’s been an assistant coach at Greenvale Kangaroos, Essendon and now Footscray, and prior to that he was captain/coach of the West Coburg Cricket Club in the VTCA for six seasons. He also had the opportunity to support the Australian test team last summer and look at how data is u…

Adam Contessa played 45 games for the Western Bulldogs from 1997 to 2001 in what was a very strong era for the Doggies under Terry Wallace. After his playing career, Adam has forged a successful career as a coach in local footy, in a variety of roles with Bundoora, Airport West, Pascoe Vale and Sunshine, and he has been a gun local Cricketer with t…

Commonly regarded as one of the very best thinkers of the game in modern footy and arguably the best coach outside of the AFL system, we chat to Mick McGuane in this episode of Coaching in Clubland. A 1990 Premiership player, two time Copeland Trophy winner and All Australian in 1992, Mick has since forged an impressive coaching career, particularl…

Western Bulldogs AFLW premiership player Lauren Spark joins us to discuss pathways for female coaches, attributes that are transferable for dual sport athletes, and her plans post playing career.Oleh Mitch Johnstone

Former Australian baseballer and 1988 Seoul Olympian Grant Weir joins us to discuss the differences between Australian and American coaches, the processes he's used as a Major League Baseball talent scout, and the keys to being an effective coaching consultant.Oleh Mitch Johnstone

After taking over 100 wickets for Australia across three different formats, and once being the number four ranked bowler in the ICC one day bowling rankings, Clint McKay is making waves as a coach, including with his role for the Melbourne Stars. We discuss the different coaches Clint played under at domestic and international level, the difference…

After a distinguished first class Cricket career with South Australia, Shane Deitz has coached in all corners of the globe. The current coach of the Netherlands Women's national team, Shane also coached in New Zealand and Bangladesh, and put Vanuatu Cricket on the map.Oleh Mitch Johnstone

Robert Shaw has done it all when it comes to coaching. The former Fitzroy Lions and Adelaide Crows senior coach, and right hand man to Kevin Sheedy, provides fascinating insight into his journey and experiences in the VFL/AFL at three very different clubs.Oleh Mitch Johnstone

Welcome to the Coaching in Clubland podcast hosted by Mitch Johnstone. Coaching in Clubland is an Aussie podcast designed for current and aspiring coaches from all levels across a range of sports to share their experiences about the caper. We discuss the rollercoaster that is the coaching experience - the highs, the lows, the joys and the pitfalls.…

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