New Nirranda playing coach Brayden Harkness says his group is hungry for more premiership success.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Blues have won two of the past four Warrnambool and District league grand finals but fell to Kolora-Noorat this season.
The classy defender replaces successful coaching duo Shane Quick and Shane Threlfall who mentored the Blues to their past two premierships.
Harkness said he had learnt plenty from the pair as an assistant coach the past three years.
"Obviously what we've been doing the past four years has worked so we're not going to change the system completely," he said.
The new coach said there was no need to overhaul the game plan and he would just be looking to tweak it.
The 29-year-old, who played juniors with Nirranda, has strong heritage at the club.
READ MORE:
His dad Jake is president and had a long playing career with the Blues.
His mum Pennie played netball and his grandfather Bruce is considered "part of the furniture" of the club.
"It's a club that's pretty close to my heart and it's always something I've wanted to do," Harkness said of his new position.
He is pleased to have "natural leader" and arguably the league's best full-back Luke Weel as his assistant.
Harkness returned to the Blues in 2017 after playing with Wantirna South in the Eastern Football Netball League (Melbourne).
Luke Parsons will coach the Blues' reserves team in 2020.
Have you signed up to The Standard's daily newsletter and breaking news emails? You can register below and make sure you are up to date with everything that's happening in the south-west.
