A THREE-time premiership player is charged with leading Russells Creek up the Warrnambool and District league ladder in 2016.
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First-time senior coach Luke Kenna will bring experience to Mack Oval.
Kenna played in a Hampden league flag with Terang Mortlake in 11 years ago and added two more premierships to his tally at Kolora-Noorat in 2010-11 when he worked as an assistant under older brother Ben.
Kenna, 35, said he was excited to kick-start his coaching career at a club hoping to build from the ground up.
Russells Creek won one match in 2015, avoiding the wooden spoon on percentage.
“I am living in Warrnambool now, been here 12 months now, and I am getting on a bit now with my footy so I thought I’d have a go at it,” he said.
“It’s something I have thought about a bit.
“I’ve had a couple of other offers in the past but it never led to anything.
“It (Russells Creek) seemed like a good fit, it’s just down the road.
“They seem quite impressive as a club.”
Kenna, who has been hampered by injuries the past four years, is hopeful of playing, to provide the Kangaroos’ young list with a steadying influence on the field.
But the utility’s main focus will be on the training track where he wants to develop Russells Creek’s teenage players.
Up to 12 of its under 17 graduates could taste senior football in 2016.
“They won one game so if we win five or six it’ll probably be a good achievement,” he said of his goals for his first season at the helm.
“Enjoyment is the main thing.
“Hopefully they can have fun and slowly improve.
“I’ll be big on team-orientated things.
“I will have to see what type of players we’ve got before working on a game plan.”
Russells Creek director of football Brad Everall said the Kangaroos were thrilled to land a player of Kenna’s experience.
“We are rapt. It was starting to get a little late but we didn’t want to rush,” he said.
“We wanted to get the right person.”
Everall said Kenna, who has spent much of his career switching between half-back and half-forward, would bring invaluable knowledge with him to the Kangaroos.
“He has come from a really good set up at Kolora-Noorat and played in a flag there and also in a flag under Adam Dowie at Terang, so he has fantastic experience,” he said.
Kenna will coach against his cousin Joe after he accepted Panmure’s top job.
The Bulldogs entered the coach search late after David Haynes stood down last month.