By LIAM TWOMEY
ALTONA has appointed Gary Turner and Josh Russo as co-coaches for the 2014 Western Region Football League season.
Turner joins the Vikings from WRFL Division Two club Caroline Springs, where he held the top job for three years.
He will team with Russo who was Altona’s captain in 2013.
Altona football director Aaron Freeland was rapt to announce the appointment last Sunday.
“Gary has coached for about 20-odd years through under-18s, reserves and senior grade footy,” Freeland said.
“He has been involved in premierships with Parkside and most recently he was the senior coach at Caroline Springs. He oversaw their first three years as a footy club and to take on that sort of role shows courage and commitment to building something from the ground up.
“We have a lot of respect for him and he is obviously really keen to mentor Josh as a future coach.”
The pair replaces Anthony Eames who stepped down from the top job at the end of the season.
After winning the 2012 Division One premiership, the Vikings’ 2013 campaign came to a close in the semi-finals against Sunshine.
Freeland said Russo’s knowledge of the playing group would help the duo hit the ground running.
Altona will begin its pre-season training on Wednesday 20 November.
“Josh will certainly help with that transition,” Freeland said.
“He has the full respect of the playing group being our captain. I think it will help Gary out with what he wants to bring to the table. Josh knows what works and what doesn’t work in our game plan. He and Gary can work out strategies together and focus on certain areas which will be great.”
With the senior coach now in place, Freeland said he would be meeting and signing up the current playing list, before looking to recruit any external players.
“My focus is signing up all the player contracts at the moment,” he said.
“I’ve meet with half the list so far and I will finish the other half this week. At this stage about 95 per cent of everyone I have spoken to has signed, which is great.”
