Garry Ramsay will again coach the Northern Football Netball League’s senior representative football team in 2018.
Ramsay was at the helm when the NFNL downed the Western Region Football League by 125 points at Preston City Oval in 2017.
The NFNL will this year host the Mornington Peninsula Nepean Football League on Saturday May 19.
The NFNL enters as the fourth-ranked side on the AFL Victoria Community Championships rankings, one place behind the MPNFL.
The match will be a battle for a spot in the 2019 top-ranked game, with the winner to earn a match-up against either the Geelong Football Netball League or Eastern Football League the following year.
Ramsay said he was excited to again lead the best players in the league after a positive experience in 2017.
“I thoroughly enjoyed it last year and I look forward to enjoying it again this year,” Ramsay said.
“I did do a fair bit of planning for it (last year) and we think we did a lot right.
“We reviewed our program and what went on and collectively we thought we got a lot right. We will probably be following the same plan as last year.”
Ramsay confirmed that Jono Manzoney, Brett Jeffery and Trevor Robinson would remain as assistants this year.
They will be joined by Whittlesea coach Jim Atkins and Montmorency’s Grant Woodward, making for a larger coaching panel in 2018.
“It gives us really good spread. We have Jim from Whittlesea, Grant from Montmorency, Trevor who’s got a Bundoora background and Brett who is Northcote Park,” Ramsay said.
“We like to think that every club is getting a good go.
“Last year a couple of coaches did dual roles, like Jono Manzoney did defence and bench rotations, so we will make sure each coach just has one role this year.
“We’ve had really good support and plenty of people have indicated that they would like to help out. I’ll let everyone do their own specialised job this year.”
Ramsay said focus had already turned towards assembling a playing squad for the match against the MPNFL.
He believed the opportunity to play in the number one game in 2019 provided plenty of incentive for players to support this year’s match.
“Probably everyone who played last year will be invited after doing such a good job. Then we will go through a similar process to last year,” he said.
“We will go through the Team of the Year and I’ll ring up each of the clubs to check on players’ availability.
“That way when we announce the squad all players would have confirmed that they want to play, rather than announce a squad that includes players who aren’t interested in playing.
“A lot of the players who have been involved have been involved for quite a few years now and they’re really excited to get another chance to have a go at getting to the number one game.
“There has been a really committed group of 10 to 12 of them who have played all the way through so there is a big reward on offer for them.”
Rod Cann will coach the under-19 football team for a third successive year, with further appointments to be announced at a later date.
