KOROIT premiership assistant Mat Buck will take the next step in his flourishing coaching career after accepting a role with Werribee.
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The former South Warrnambool mentor will take on an assistant coaching role under Tigers and legendary AFL coach Mark Williams in 2020.
Buck, 35, said the opportunity started to take shape four weeks ago after a meeting with Williams while also receiving a helping hand from former Gold Coast and Fremantle midfielder Michael Barlow.
"I have a good relationship withe the Barlow family and Michael and I was interest in having a go at a bit of a higher level," the father-of-two said.
"I'd actually had a chat with (new Carlton development coach) Dan O'Keefe, who was brilliant with his time, and he gave me some great advice on if I wanted to go a bit further with my coaching and what I should do.
"With that advice I spoke to Michael and thought there would be an opportunity at Werribee and I was lucky that everything fell into place."
Buck said he had not reassessed his coaching goals after securing his newest footballing venture.
"I'm trying to live in the moment with it as it just seems like an incredible opportunity to work under Mark Williams, who has obviously been in the football system forever," he said.
"I just want to take full advantage of that and just enjoy it."
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Buck spent two seasons as an assistant to south-west coaching mastermind Adam Dowie at Koroit before spending three years as South Warrnambool's senior mentor.
He then returned to Victoria Park in 2019 as an assistant.
In his stints with Koroit he helped the club secure three of its past six consecutive premierships in 2014-15 and '19.
The former Terang Mortlake and North Warrnambool Eagles player said is eager to get involved with Werribee after watching its strong 2019 season from afar.
"They had a really good year, making finals for the first time since they became a standalone club again," he said.
"I don't think they lost a game by more than three goals all year and managed to retain 85 per cent of their list going into next season.
"Everything is really positive and everything seems to be working out well and I'm looking forward to getting up there and earning everyone's respect and working nice and hard and seeing if I can contribute in the best way I can.
"It seems like a great place and everyone I have met so far has been fantastic."
Buck said he has huge admiration for the region and its football community, especially Koroit, but didn't want to be left with regrets of not taking up the opportunity to coach at a higher level.
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Sean Hardeman
I'm a sports journalist for the Warrnambool Standard who covers a number of different sports across the south-west of Victoria. I enjoy watching cycling, surfing, football, soccer and Formula 1.
I'm a sports journalist for the Warrnambool Standard who covers a number of different sports across the south-west of Victoria. I enjoy watching cycling, surfing, football, soccer and Formula 1.
