The Hampden Football Netball League (HFNL) life member was yesterday announced as the 2011 interleague coach.

His main goal is clear — O’Sullivan wants to restore pride in the Bottle Greens guernsey.

“It’s all or nothing,” he said. “I want the best players possible to put their hand up.

“(But) they can’t be half-hearted about it.

“We’ll only be playing the blokes who really want to commit.”

After a heavy loss to Mornington Peninsula Nepean in May, Hampden was relegated to seventh in the VCFL rankings under the new interleague system, which involves annual one-off matches.

“We’ve definitely gone back a bit,” O’Sullivan said of the Bottle Greens’ interleague performances.

“But not through the fault of the coaches or the executive, which is really trying to get it going.

“We need more commitment from the players.

“We need to make it special for them again.

“They need to get excited about playing, not just see it as another weekend.”

The retired O’Sullivan represented the league for a decade, which included the honour of being vice-captain on two occasions.

“I knew I wasn’t going to play AFL but I wanted to play at the best level I could,” he said.

“We all really wanted to get the best out of ourselves.”

He hoped that next year’s squad would enter interleague with a similar mindset, which would hopefully lead to success.

“We want to get Hampden league back up,” he said.

“We’ve got such a strong football area.”

The father-of-four believed interleague was just as beneficial for young players as the TAC Cup, as it presented them with an opportunity to test themselves against the state’s top seasoned country footballers.

O’Sullivan, who lives in Illowa, plans to sit down with the eight Hampden clubs to discuss interleague.

Hampden chief executive officer Stephen Soulsby was pleased to announce O’Sullivan as coach.

“Nick is 100 per cent committed to the HFNL, a commitment he has held since beginning his career with Terang in 1990,” he said.

“The league would expect nothing short of this from its players playing in the 2011 season who are selected to play (interleague).”

Next year Hampden takes on Murray Football League at Shepparton’s Deakin Reserve on May 28, which will also host the highly-anticipated clash between top-ranked leagues Goulburn Valley and Ballarat.

O’Sullivan is finalising his coaching panel while the HFNL is still seeking an under 18 interleague coach.