Long-time Croc thrust into top job
AS SOON as a replacement coach comes on board mid-season, the team is supposed win the very next game, right?
That's the theory anyway.
Not so for Shannon Rusca whose first game as coach of Southern Districts was a 12-point loss to the Tiwi Bombers.
That was disappointing for the long-time Croc because it meant the side was in danger of dropping three games in succession.
Happily for the one-time Western Bulldog and Brisbane Lion that scenario was avoided when Southern Districts toppled ladder leader Waratah on Sunday in Round 8 of the NTFL.
Rusca, 28, was thrust into the role following the departure of Michael McLean who was appointed coach of the Queensland-bound Northern Territory Football Club last month.
Rusca, the Crocs' 2006-07 premiership captain and the league's Nichols Medal winner that season, will be a playing-coach and yesterday said he's still adjusting to the role.
"I haven't coached at this level before but I'm finding it OK. I'm just two weeks into it and getting used to it," he said.
"It was good to get that win or else we'd have lost three in a row and looking down the barrel. We didn't want that monkey to turn into a gorilla so we're very happy to break that cycle against a competent side in Waratah."
It helps that Rusca bleeds the red, black and white of the Crocs' colours. He's been a one-club man in the NTFL since he signed up for his first game at Southern Districts as a seven-year-old.
"We're involved with a great bunch of people here," Rusca said.
"We've got a core group of guys who've been here the past four, five years so it makes the transition to coaching a lot of easier.
"We're all great mates and there's respect. For me, respect is a big thing in coaching; you get your messages across and you take things on.
"So it's like I'm working alongside my friends and the younger kids who are full of energy and are like sponges, they just soak things up."
Rusca is also drawing on the experience of Mclean.
"Majo has been a big influence on me since I first started playing league footy when I was 16," he said.
"He's been a mentor to me even in the AFL when he was coaching at Brisbane. He's like the 'godfather' of all the Aboriginal boys in the AFL. He's been there, done that.
"I've loved being coached by him the past three years. You learn how what he gets what he wants out of his players.
"You draw on all of that wealth of knowledge but there's not going to be a change of game plan. We've got the same core group so no good changing things. Majo's proved that it works well over the past three years."
Brisbane selected Rusca as the number once pick in the 1999 rookie draft where he played two AFL games before being traded to the Western Bulldogs but recurring soft-tissue injury cruelled his long-term prospects.
Rusca played for the Indigenous All-Stars against, ironically, the Bulldogs in 2005.
Hands up for NTFC
AT 28, Shannon Rusca has plenty of football left in him and, like a lot of Territory players of his age and experience, he's hoping to be part of history when the Northern Territory Football Club gets off the ground.
That team will play in the AFL Queensland State League from next year.
Coach Michael McLean and the club's recently appointed high performance manager, Murray Davis, are looking at compiling a squad -- expected to be named later this month -- with a balance of youth and experience.
Rusca says he has much to offer the new side.
"I want to put my hand up so hopefully I'll get a starting spot in the squad," he said.
"I'd like to be there, teaching the younger kids a thing or two about how to train, the right diet, being away from home."
And, of course, how to play the game at a level required to be competitive.
DARREN MONCRIEFF
AboriginalFootball@westnet.com.au
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Last Modified on 04/12/2008 03:40