Former star AFL midfielder Peter German is the new coach of the Casey Scorpions. 24318 Picture: Stewart Chambers.By Marc McGowan
THE VFL’s worst-kept secret became official on Sunday when the Casey Scorpions named Peter German as the club’s new coach.
German, 43, replaces Greg Hutchison, who coached the Scorpions to their second-straight finals appearance this year, in the post.
Hutchison turned down the role to become St Kilda’s new football manager.
Casey general manager Brian Woodman also confirmed his club’s new AFL alignment with Melbourne, which starts training at Casey Fields today.
German, a former North Melbourne star, will have a partial development role at Melbourne.
German is excited about coaching his own side again after leading WAFL club Subiaco to premiership success in 2004 and 2006.
“Everyone who has been the senior coach of any football side will tell you that you get more satisfaction out of that than being an assistant coach,” he said.
“I’ve mixed both those scenarios over the last 15 years and I’m looking forward to being back as a senior coach.”
German played 185 games for the Kangaroos between 1984 and 1994, and has been an assistant coach at AFL clubs Fremantle, West Coast and Hawthorn.
His first coaching assignment was Northern Tasmanian Football League club Burnie in 1995 and he has an outstanding 72 per cent winning ratio over his career.
Woodman is delighted to sign a coach of German’s calibre.
“To be able to fill Greg’s shoes with someone with the same credentials has certainly been very important to us and we have great faith in Peter German,” Woodman said.
“His background is outstanding and the first few meetings with him already show the quality of person he is.”
German had several coaching offers after indicating he was returning to Victoria and said the Scorpions’ job was exactly what he was after.
He also made it clear that his primary role was to coach Casey.
“It’s a fairly exciting process to work with the Melbourne guys as well, but I won’t be working with them as often as I do with the Casey guys,” German said.
“The key is to make sure the Casey guys don’t feel inferior to the AFL players because in the end they are the core group of players and that’s how I’ll be looking at it.”
German is in the process of acquiring game tapes from last season, but already admits he will have an inexperienced list next year.
“I take everything on face value and I will rate players on how hard they work over the pre-season,” he said.
“If they show the right attitude and commitment we’ll give them a good look.”
German will officially address the players for the first time tomorrow night at the Scorpions’ 2009 pre-season launch at Casey Fields.
Casey resumes training next Wednesday.
City of Casey chief executive Mike Tyler said discussions were continuing with Melbourne in regards to their potential 30-year community partnership with the municipality.
The City of Casey will allocate about $2.24 million towards a major extension of the pavilion at Casey Fields if it reaches a deal with Melbourne.
