MOUNT Pleasant has swooped on Derrick Filo to be the Blues senior coach in 2014.
BLUES COUP: Mount Pleasant's Dean White, coach Derrick Filo and Brougham Arms owner Scott Macumber. Picture: JODIE DONNELLAN
MOUNT Pleasant has swooped on Derrick Filo to be the Blues senior coach in 2014.
A five-time premiership winner as player or playing coach, Filo has ended a one-year sabbatical from a full-on role at a club to join Mounts.
The Bendigo Football League legend racked up 29 consecutive seasons playing or coaching before taking a rest in 2013.
Filo was playing coach of Kyneton's premiership teams in 1995 and '97, playing coach in Eaglehawk's premiership years of 2007 and '08, and Castlemaine premiership in '92.
He played more than 400 senior matches across stints at Castlemaine, Kyneton, Kangaroo Flat and Eaglehawk.
Filo said on Tuesday he was looking forward to the challenge at Mounts.
The Blues have won more senior premierships than any HDFL rival, but have not figured in the senior finals since the grand final victory in 2006.
"There are a lot of challenges to start bridging the gap to the top teams," Filo said.
"It's an exciting time, and the club's on-field position is similar to Eaglehawk's the season before I went there."
Mount Pleasant committee member Dean White said Filo's signing was a huge coup.
"We went for what we believed was the best available and are rapt Derrick agreed."
Off-field, the Brougham Arms Hotel continues as the club's major sponsor.
