Tara Murray
Romsey ticked all the boxes as Justin Sherman looked to get back into coaching.
Having stepped down from the coaching role at Craigieburn midway through this year to deal with some personal stuff, Sherman found the itch to coach again was there.
It was the role at the Redbacks in the Riddell District Football League that stuck out, with the club announcing him as their new coach on Wednesday night.
Sherman, who played 138 AFL games with the Brisbane Lions and the Western Bulldogs has had an extensive coaching experience since his playing days ended, coaching at Kyabram, Laurimar, the Northern Knights and Craigieburn.
Sherman said he was excited by this new opportunity.
“There’s been a real warm welcome every time I’ve stepped into the club,” he said.
“There’s a great bunch of people running it from the top and some really good young players coming through with a good core leadership group.
“It’s a really exciting next chapter for the club.”
Sherman said coaching the Redbacks seemed like the perfect role for him, with the club ticking all the boxes.
One of the first things he looked at was the future of the club on field.
“One of the first things I looked at was the younger personnel coming through the club,” he said.
“Developing and mentoring younger players is a strength of mine as a coach.
“There is also some depth around the core leadership group and the board is really exciting.
“They were my key priorities and the list sets up pretty well for the future, but nothing guaranteed.
The Redbacks finished fourth this year, knocked out in the first week of the finals.
Consistency was one area in which the Redbacks lacked at times.
Sherman said fitness would be one of his main focuses as they tried to address that.
“The aim is to really work on fitness and we’ll have a long strong pre-season from a fitness perspective,” he said.
“You get out what you put into it and we’re going to work really hard and be attentive in everything we do.
“When you’re fitter everything comes easier. We’ll keep things pretty simple next year and hopefully it sets up for next year and into the future.”
As well as signing Sherman, the Redbacks have been busy locking in recruits for next season.
Sherman said they had added both some young heads and some experienced players.
“We’ve added everything we needed to add,” he said.
“We can all start pre-season as a full unit.”
