Jason Clarke, pictured addressing his former Port Melbourne team-mates, will coach North Footscray next season. 32099 Picture: KRISTIAN SCOTT
BY MICHAEL ESPOSITO
JASON Clarke knows a thing or two about building a club from the bottom up.
When he took over as coach of Port Melbourne in 2003, the Colts finished second-last. By the end of the 2006 season Port Melbourne was celebrating back-to-back premierships.
He now has a similar challenge ahead of him, this time as coach of North Footscray.
Clarke missed out on the Port Melbourne coaching position left vacant by Peter Lunt at the end of this season, and was appointed playing coach of North Footscray last week.
“I was always unlikely to get it because (Port Melbourne) were looking for someone different, which I understand. I leave with no hard feelings,” Clarke said.
The unsuccessful application meant North Footscray president Ashleigh Lewis, who had been chasing Clarke for some time, got his man.
Lewis played under Clarke five years ago, and believed he had the experience, knowledge and professionalism to take the Devils forward.
Clarke said he demanded success and would not be accepting a mediocre season. Finishing near the bottom in its first year in Division One was acceptable. Anything other than a drastic improvement next season will be anything but acceptable.
“I won’t be resting on my laurels, I’m a pretty competitive person. I don’t just want to be making up the numbers. I definitely want to make sure we’re right in the finals hunt,” Clarke said.
“They’ve got a pretty good young list. I think they’re one of the better teams to have come up from second division in the last 10 years. There’s a bit to work with and if we add some recruits in there we’ll be definitely aiming for finals.
“Where we’re lacking in class we’ll make up with our fitness, and our strength and our speed and our ability to play as a team. I’ll be making sure of that. When I took over Port Colts we finished second last on the ladder so North Footscray are probably better placed from when I took over Port Colts, so there’s no reason why we can’t get a massive improvement.”
Clarke said there were no set-in-stone recruits to announce yet, but was aiming to recruit “half-a-dozen top grade players” and several more to boost its depth.
Securing a centre-half back and full back was the main priority, according to Clarke.
“I think we’ll be right in the forward area. We’re looking at a ruckman now so we should be alright there and we should have a couple of good mid-fielders as well.”
Lewis said despite appointing a coach later than most clubs, North Footscray has been actively chasing up prospective players for weeks.
