I thought it was a great win for local footy.

Full credit to the players and the coaching staff for the victory.

We've been very lucky to have had Jonathan Brown leading the way as coach.

I was fortunate to be on the bench for the interleague game last year and watched closely how Browny coached the side.

Browny is an excellent coach and who knows, one day he may want to coach at the highest level.

I believe that he would do a top job.

The win over Ballarat showed that the Hampden League is one of the leading competitions in the state.

It showed that the standard of footy at the local level is very good.

I would say the clubs in the Hampden League have a strong nucleus of players, but it's the bottom group which drops away and that makes the difference between the top and bottom sides.

Tom, you came back to play footy with Portland in 2018 and took over as the senior coach for this season. Are you happy how the club is progressing in 2019?

I suppose we're a bit like all clubs.

We would like a few wins on the board, but we must be mindful that we've got a very young group of players who are playing in a very strong competition.

We knew at the start of the season we would be inconsistent because we had so many young players who are still learning footy at the top level.

We were up by 25 points into the last quarter against North Warrnambool and ended up drawing with them.

North Warrnambool is one of the powerhouse sides in the competition.

We've had a few injuries which have hurt us over the last few weeks, but that's football.

The injuries give younger players a game and they will be the future of the club.

We will play Cobden this Saturday.

Cobden is like us; they have a very young side, so it should be a very interesting game.

Koroit is the best side that we've played so far this season.

They're well drilled and have multiple scoring options, which make them hard to line up against.

The players at Koroit are big bodied, which is another advantage they have over other sides.

How did it come about that you took over the coaching job at Portland in 2019?

I had a chat with club officials in October 2018 and they asked if I would be interested in doing the job.

I was very hesitant at first. I had a chat to a few of the players and they said to have a go at the job, so I took it over.

I'm enjoying the role. It's time consuming but it's rewarding, because I can see the young blokes improving their skills.

I'm not sure I will be the senior coach in 2020.

I'll have a talk with the club at the end of the year.

I'll be guided by what is the best for the club next season.

Where did your footy career begin?

I started playing with West Portland in the under 14s and under 16s before playing with the Hamilton Magpies under 18 side.

I was living in Hamilton because I was going to Hamilton College.

The rivalry between Hamilton and Hamilton Imperials back in that era was intense.

It was like a grand final each time they played against each other.

It's funny that both clubs merged.

I can understand why they had to merge, because there was a shortage of players, but they really disliked each other.

The other thing about the merger was that Western Border footy really felt the impact.

Two sides from Hamilton, Heywood and Portland left the Western Border league within a few years.

Sadly for footy, Western Border is no longer a strong competition like it was say 15 to 20 years ago.

I went and played footy with University Black under 19.5 side for two years in Melbourne before coming back to play with Portland.

And then, in 2014, I travelled overseas as an exchange student.

I played a bit of rugby while I was overseas.

I came back and had a burning ambition to try and play football at the highest level.

And the team I wanted to join was the Western Bulldogs, so I got myself really fit.

I had a try out with Williamstown and did a preseason with them in November 2014.

I was also training with Port Melbourne and then, out of the blue, I was also training with the Western Bulldogs' VFL side.

I played in a few practice games for the Bulldogs in February 2015 before I made my debut with them against Collingwood.

What can you remember about your debut game?

We played at the old Victoria Park.

I played across the half-back line.

There was a big crowd at the game because Collingwood has so many fans at all levels.

I was a top-up player on the Bulldogs' VFL list for 2015 and 2016 and was playing with University Blacks when I was not required by the Bulldogs.

It was a wonderful experience to be involved with the Bulldogs, as they won the VFL and AFL flag in 2016.

The build-up and atmosphere around the Bulldogs at that stage was quite amazing.

I took most of the 2017 season off because of teaching commitments before coming back to the family farm at Cape Nelson in January 2018.