By David Nagel
Nar Nar Goon Football Club has told senior coach Luke Young it will search for a more high-profile replacement after informing him his services will not be required for the 2023 season.
Young, who has coached just 24 games at Spencer Street since taking over the reins at the conclusion of 2019, has committed to coaching the club for the remainder of the season.
Young was holidaying in Noosa when he received a call on the morning of Friday 1 July, requesting an afternoon meeting.
Young eventually met with club president Patrick Noonan and vice-president Chris Parker on Monday 4 July where he was informed of the club’s decision to part ways.
The club informed the playing group the following night at training.
With an impressive record of 18 wins and six losses, Young was disenchanted when told.
“The number one thing for me here is not to derail the season but I’m surprised, disappointed and frustrated pretty much,” Young said.
“They (Noonan and Parker) told me they are seeking a high-profile coach who can deliver high-profile players to the club in order to keep up with the likes of Tooradin and Phillip Island.
“We’ve lost to the top three, but by five goals to all of them, so we’re not that far away, and they agreed with that.
“But it was more about me not being high-profile enough and not being able to attract high-profile players to the club.
“I’m certainly not being disrespectful to Lachie (Tooradin-Dalmore coach Lachie Gillespie) here, but he’s not a high-profile coach and Tooradin has attracted high-profile players.
“My point is, I don’t think Lachie has gone out and recruited those high-profile players on his own, there’s background work that goes on at a club that contributes to that sort of thing.”
Young is also disappointed with the timing of the decision, just six weeks out from finals.
“The response was that they (Noonan and Parker) thought I might want to coach somewhere else and announcing it now would give me that opportunity,” he said.
“But the main message was that they wanted to announce it now so they could go out and get someone of the high-profile they desire.”
Young said he is fully focussed on achieving something special with his playing group this year.
“That’s what I said to them Tuesday night, and that’s what I’ll say again tonight (Thursday), that we’ve started something together, we think we can finish it, so let’s go and finish it,” he said.
“It’s shifted our focus a bit from building towards something special in one-or-two-years’ time, to getting it done now.
“It’s narrowed our focus to what the next six weeks looks like and what we can achieve in the short term.”
Noonan said informing Young of the club’s decision was the most difficult task he had undertaken in all of his time in football.
“It’s the hardest job I’ve ever had to do, but I have to read the room and take on board what is going on around the football club,” Noonan said.
“I feel for Luke, we took a gamble on him as an untried coach and now unfortunately we’re parting ways.”
Noonan confirmed that Nar Nar Goon is now looking at a different fit moving forward, once Young finishes up at the end of the season.
“Luke is out of contract at the end of the season, which both parties are honouring, but we’ve decided to look for a more experienced and high-profile person to lead our group moving forward,” Noonan said.
“We feel like we have a strong group of players, but the fit with Luke is not quite what we’re looking for.”
Noonan said the search for a new coach was now on.
“We’ve put our heads together and begun the process of looking at suitable candidates,” he said.
“There are several clubs that are already looking for coaches for next year and if we waited any longer, we would certainly be behind the eight-ball…you just miss out.
“We’ve been in this position before and it’s not fair on the existing coach, in regards to where he’s at, and it’s certainly not fair on the club.
“There’s already a lot of traffic out there about coaching so we felt as a club that it was the right time to move.”
And the prospects for next year?
“We’re not that far away, we think we need one or two more players to take that next step, and we’re working on the scenario that an experienced and high-profile coach might bring those players with him,” Noonan said.
Currently fourth on the ladder, Nar Nar Goon faces a tough five weeks to round out its season with games against Phillip Island, Warragul Industrials, Korumburra-Bena, Tooradin-Dalmore and Inverloch-Kongwak.
