Former Golden Point coach Adrian Harris has joined Victorian Premier League club Essendon as an assistant coach.
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Advancing his coaching career to the VPL has long been something Harris has wanted to do, but he admits until last year’s first grade premiership, he felt like he had “unfinished business” at the club.
The Pointies went from top of the ladder and flag favourites at Christmas in the 2016-17 season to missing the finals in a dramatic fall from the top. But Golden Point was emphatic last season, winning all three senior grades of cricket and 11 of a possible 24 premierships in his four years as coach – underlining the club’s dominance, and Harris’ contribution as coach.
He now has a new challenge at Essendon and will play a strong role in skill development and matchday tactics. Harris said it was exciting to take a step forward in his coaching.
“It’s all happened very quickly, all of a sudden I’ve jumped straight out of cricket season here and come to another one,” Harris said.
“That was the obvious next step for me in terms of coaching, it was always in the back of my mind that I’d like to have a crack down there (VPL).
“I had unfinished business at Golden Point, I was pretty disappointed with the way we finished in 2016-17.
“There’s no better way to finish with the firsts, second and thirds (winning the premiership)...I think the club’s in a pretty good place.”
Harris said it would be difficult to play at role at Point given the natural clash of training schedules, but he was hopeful of possibly helping out during pre-season prior to training moving to Tuesday, Thursdays.
Harris also continues to put plenty of time into his own cricket academy Ultra Cricket Coaching.
The program focuses on working with students in a tight knit group of no more than three, allowing a more hands-on focus to development.
“That’s my real passion, seeing people get better.”