New East Keilor coach David Battistella wants to keep as much of this list together for the 2013 season. 81914_09 Picture: MATHEW LYNN
By ADEM SARICAOGLU
DAVID Battistella is the man the East Keilor Cougars hope will get them back into Division One of the Essendon District Football League.
The former North Footscray premiership coach will take charge at East Keilor in 2013 having spent 2012 away from footy, choosing to take the year off and travel with his young family.
But now the coaching fire in Battistella’s belly has re-ignited, and he says he cannot wait for his fresh new challenge.
“I just needed some time with the family and it’s a pretty tough gig coaching any local football,” Battistella said.
“It’s not professional but there’s still a hell of a lot of time involved, and it was nice to refresh this year.
“It just made me relax a bit and then made me realise how much I missed coaching, so to get East Keilor’s coaching job, I was absolutely stoked.”
East Keilor was demoted into the EDFL’s newly formed Division Two halfway through 2012, prompting the sacking of coach Steve Kolyniuk.
However despite going on to win the Division Two grand final, the Cougars will again compete in the league’s third tier competition in 2013.
New club president Geoff Nicholl has set Battistella one main goal for next year, which is to simply “go back-to-back and get from C-grade (Division Two) back into B-grade (Division One)”.
East Keilor finds itself in a similar predicament to the one North Footscray faced in Division Two of the Western Region Football League half a decade ago.
However, under the guidance of Battistella, the Devils consistently made finals, won the Division Two flag in 2010 and have since stayed in Division One.
Nicholl said it is hoped Battistella, and the crew he plans to bring along with him, can replicate those feats with East Keilor.
“He had his own staff, runners and assistants to help him along the way, as well as a reserves’ coach,” Nicholl said of Battistella.
“He came as a package and we were pretty happy with the way he conducted himself.”
Battistella has already begun his list assessment for 2013 and revealed he is expecting new recruits to join the club.
However, while nothing has been confirmed to this point, Battistella said his first priority is to ensure most of this year’s playing list stays on with the Cougars.
“They were a very competitive side in that Division One this year and they ended up winning the ‘best of the rest’ once they went down, so we’re starting with a side that certainly has some quality people around.”
Battistella told Star his is only a one-year deal.
