Gold Coast Senior Coach Guy McKenna says the chance to beat the club that helped shape his approach to coaching will not be a motivator when his side tackles in-form Collingwood at Southport on Saturday.
“Maybe if it was an AFL game, but not in the VFL” a frank McKenna said. “If I was coming up against West Coast seconds then I may feel a bit differently. But as far as me having a win over [Collingwood reserves coach] Gavin Brown or over the Collingwood Football Club, well there’s a lot of other things on my radar, that’s for sure. Really, for me it’s all about chalking up a win against one of the form sides of the VFL. And that, of course, would be fantastic.”
McKenna says much has changed since his five year stint as an assistant coach with the Magpies ended when he accepted the GCFC senior coaching role. Even so he believes his time at Collingwood may still offer up a game-day advantage or two.
“I was there two years ago and a lot varies in styles of football generally and in their style of football specifically. And they’ve drafted in a lot of new players and turned over others. Even so I suppose having a few insights into the way they might do things will help rather than hinder us.”
But while the prospect of knocking off his ex-employer may not be fuelling McKenna’s competitive fire any more than normal, he couldn’t entirely say the same for his key midfield duo Danny Stanley and Sam Iles, both of whom were cut from the Magpies list a few years back. So far Collingwood’s loss has proved GCFC’s gain. Both have injected new life into their football careers with some strong early season performances. That said, McKenna reckons bigger things await.
“Potentially there might be a bit of a motivation there to for those guys to prove to certain people the things they can do on the football field. But to be honest I reckon they’d rather be doing it at AFL level. So when we’re in the AFL next year and if those fellas are in the Gold Coast side that takes on Collingwood I’m sure there’ll be an extra incentive for them to do well.”
McKenna says last week’s bye was a timely opportunity for his young players to freshen both mind and body.
“[Fitness Manager] Andrew Weller factored the bye weekend as part of the player’s rehabilitation. Guys like Brandon Matera and Marc Lock, they were probably keen to keep playing, but we thought we have the chance to rest these guys for two weeks instead on one, so lets do it.”
“Our win against Geelong was extremely hard fought and to have the extra week to prepare for a side that potentially has 848 games of experience up its sleeve can only be a good thing.”
Even so, the team was put through some fairly solid work on the training track in the lead up to its weekend off.
“We trained really solidly on the Wednesday and Thursday [before the bye] and then a few of the boys took the opportunity to go home and visit their families and unwind mentally.”
And what does a senior coach do on the bye weekend?
“I spent my time moving into my new house, actually.”
Even so he couldn’t stay away from football completely.
“I also enjoyed a bit of time with the kids and managed to take them to the [AFLQ] footy. I got the chance to see how a few of our developing guys are going down at Southport. I don’t often get the chance to do that.”
Click here for more info on this weekends game at Southport Sharks.
