BEHIND THE SCENES: Corowa-Rutherglen's search for a coach and expected player exodus

With their search to replace coach Peter German having so far proved fruitless, a mass player exodus expected and John Foord Oval having been inundated by the recent floods, the Roos are facing up to the reality of a tough road ahead.

But while the vacuum created by a lack of recruiting announcements is so quickly filled by rumour and gossip, club officials have spoken out to set the record straight about their position and the work going on behind the scenes to stay buoyant in the sometimes choppy waters of the Ovens and Murray.

Financially sound, with good junior numbers and a strong netball section, the club has plenty of positives to point to but, as football director Jason Marks admits, the challenges on the other side of the coin are rather overwhelming.

"We've got a player drainage in our senior club and at the moment, it's looking like we've got 23 players moving on," Marks revealed.

"It's a challenge for us to bring players into our club because we don't have a senior coach.

"We've got a six-strong football department making hundreds and hundreds of phone calls, trying to connect our current playing list and recruit new players but we're struggling.

"This season might be a little bit hard for us in terms of on-field performance unless we can get some community input and support as far as players, connections and feedback."

So what has led to a drainage of such proportions?

"Life factors," Marks explained. "It happens every five years or so.

"We're very fortunate this year that we've got four guys that have come through our club and are taking on further opportunities either at AFL or VFL level.

"That's something we really want to focus on moving forward and we're very successful at doing so.

"We've got guys that make VFL and AFL grades by coming through our club and we're very much going to continue that platform to push these players into the highest level they can possibly play.

"On top of that, we've got guys that come through our juniors and under-18s, super strong players that take on life opportunities at university and moving interstate or moving to Melbourne, wanting to take on different challenges.

"We miss out on some of our own players staying around but we're supportive of that. We're happy for guys to get experience and do those things.

"But we've also got a couple of players that get picked off by other clubs. It's really disappointing to see when strong clubs in our league target players from our club.

"In chatting to our playing list from last year, almost all of them have had approaches from local clubs and there's been a couple of successful recruiting raids out of our team.

"We understand when players move for further opportunities, it's just really disappointing when clubs down the road pick off players from our team."

Corowa-Rutherglen's reigning club best and fairest Cam Wilson joined grand finalists Yarrawonga this week, having shared fourth place in the 2022 Morris Medal count, while Cam Barrett moved on to premiers Wangaratta last month.

"Somewhere in the vicinity of 10-12 players will move interstate or away from the district through university, life experiences and work which are clearly not things we can have a lot of control over," junior club vice-president and premiership player Longmire said.

"We don't begrudge any of those young people at all because that's what we've all done and it's what we expect to happen. It's just that it's happened at once and created a bit of a problem.

"What's compounding that is the targeting of some of our really strong players by rival clubs with significantly more additional support than we can offer them.

"Our community has a history of ebbs and flows when it comes to player numbers and levels of success and this is one of those times.

"But each time we have a retraction in numbers, it gets harder and harder and we still haven't ultimately addressed the core fundamentals as a community that we've got far too many jumper spots in our district for the number of participants.

"That's an ongoing challenge we've seen in more communities, not just Corowa, but across the board.

"We're probably at the leading edge of that, as we always have been."

The cluster of Corowa-Rutherglen, CDHBU, Rutherglen and Wahgunyah - four football-netball clubs playing in three different competitions and drawing from the same player pool - is a logistical headache which hasn't gone away since AFL North East Border completed its review in 2017.

"It makes it harder for us to replace those kids who move away," Longmire said.

"The cluster issue compounds those negative effects.

"None of those member clubs have done anything wrong - quite the opposite.

"Our cluster community club members have done an exceptional job to keep it going as strongly as they have done for the last 20 years.

"It's a huge effort and we don't think any of them are to blame, they're all fighting for the same things: history and their community.

"In a lot of instances, they're fighting for their local spot to have a beer on a Thursday night or their community connection on a weekend.

"Consequently, footy and netball are really emotive things because they're the connector in the community.

"What should be helping bind our community together, at times when we've got flood damage and our community faces some real challenges, actually tears us apart, creates tension and significant negative effects on our community for something that should be a real positive."

Cleaning up and repairing the club rooms after the floods will set back Corowa-Rutherglen close to $250,000 but their search for a new coach comes at an unseen cost.

"I've got that much faith in our footy department," Hosier said, having taken over as president from Stuart Lingham seven years after he last held the role.

"A lot of people feel as though they're not going the right way but I know how much work they put in.

"I don't think, at times, people understand the time and commitment these boys put in.

"They're volunteers, they all hold full-time jobs and it's an unthanked job.

"If you don't get it right, you get criticised; if you get it right, you get the praise.

"These guys are working tirelessly to find someone.

"We've got a lot of challenges, both on and off the football field, and we need the community to help us.

"You saw, at Easter (when the Roos almost beat Albury in front of a bumper crowd), how the community gets behind us, and that's something we strive for.

"We need the community to help us from the player perspective and we need them need to understand where we're at."

Marks, one of the club's newest board members, knows how important the appointment will be.

"We can throw money to someone to coach our club but that's not what we want," he said.

"We want the right person who's going to continue the development we've spoken about, pushing players to the next level.

"We want someone that's going to elevate our club and continue the growth of our club moving forward and that's been very much a challenge over this pre-season.

"We've got six members in the football department who are each making hundreds of phone calls every week to try to find that right person.

"We've got two or three stokes in the fire at the moment, we had another meeting last week with a potential candidate and over the coming weeks and months we hope to have some positive news but we've also learnt over the last couple of months that you can be 99 percent over the line with a great candidate and get pipped at the post.

"What we take some positivity out of is the Lavington scenario of last year.

"While we are absolutely not sitting on our hands, waiting for something to happen, we saw that Lavington worked their arses off to get their coach and ended up having a successful season with very much a short turnaround.

"We take a lot of heart from that and it allows us to continue to find the right coach versus finding a coach."

But the pressure to get a deal done is real.

"It's an enormous responsibility," Longmire admitted.

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"In the current environment, it's an exceptionally competitive marketplace and we've got other clubs within the league setting incredibly high standards when it comes to their coaches.

"Good on them but one of the knock-on effects of that is a very high expectation around coaching standards in our league.

"We're trying to achieve this result not only for our club but our community, for our young people and all of the layers we've worked so hard to get right, our junior program in particular.

"When you don't get that result, it weighs heavily on all members of our footy department.

"I think people, at times, don't have a great insight into what goes on and exactly how much effort goes into it, how much time, energy and how much of yourself you give to that role.

"Across the board, volunteers are finding it more and more challenging and probably exacerbating a volunteer drop-off because we put a lot of loading on those volunteers.

"There's very short life expectancy of a footy department. I would say the average footy department member would last no more than two to three seasons before they're completely cooked."

Marks knows they can't take anyone in blue and white for granted.

"The current volunteers, across the board, they step up every single year," he said.

"They continue to pour hours and hours into the club through the football, through the netball, through the kitchen, through the ground staff, through general maintenance around the place.

"We've got such an amazing volunteer community already at Corowa and we're conscious of the fact they want to see football and success every year as well.

"They also want to have additional support themselves, from a volunteer perspective.

"So while it's important for us finding footballers and coaches, it's just as important to find more people to support our club across the board as well."

There is a hard road ahead for Corowa-Rutherglen but all involved believe the battle will be worth it.

"Our selling point is opportunity," Marks said.

"We are a professional environment and we provide that development and growth but we've got that community aspect that if you just want to enjoy your football, there's no better place than Corowa. There are so many good people in our area that will support you in pulling on the blue and white."

"When we have some success, we are very well-supported," Longmire added.

"On grand final day this year, when our thirds finished, half the crowd cleared out.

"When we get it right, we are tremendously well-supported and it's a thrilling, exhilarating ride."

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