Libba signs on with Sunbury
FORMER Western Bulldogs star Tony Liberatore will coach Sunbury next year.
And in a second major coup, former East Point star and 2005 Henderson Medallist Ben Jordan will join Liberatore as a playing assistant coach with the eastern Lions for the 2008 RegionalOne Ballarat Football League season.
Liberatore, who finishes up in his role as an assistant coach at Carlton this week, has been recommended by Sunbury's current committee for a full-time role that combines football manager and coaching duties with the club.
The appointment needs only to be ratified by the club's incoming committee at the club's annual general meeting on November 13, a formality given the current committee is likely to be re-instated at the AGM.
Club president Greg Allen described the announcement as good news not just for Sunbury, but also for the BFL in general.
"At Sunbury we like pushing the bar and we think that country football does need full-time people now. Having someone like Tony around the club full-time will be great for our young players and when it comes to fitness we don't think you could do better," he said.
"He's still on Carlton's payroll as we speak so it's a pretty big appointment. It's awesome for country footy to have coaches like Tony and John Northey."
At this point the appointment is for one year. Allen said Liberatore and Jordan would play a major role in developing Sunbury's younger players in the post-Mark Power era.
"There is no expectation of flags. While Sunbury likes to play in grand finals, we recognise this starting point," he said.
"Serge' (Power) did a terrific job but we're now starting a new era. Our research has shown Tony is one of the best people you could get to coach and develop young players.
"Ben Jordan is the icing on the cake. His leadership on the field is something we will really benefit from."
Jordan, who lives in Sunbury, has joined the Lions for family reasons and leaves East Point with the club's blessing, Red Lion Kangaroos president Gerard O'Keefe said yesterday.
Sunbury is also hoping to retain 2007 captain Daryl Griffin, who retired along with Mark Power at the end of the season.
"Daryl played with Tony at Footscray, so we're hoping Daryl will reconsider his decision to retire and play another year," Allen said.
"Tony will have his game plan so we're going to talk to the players and hopefully we will keep a lot of our players." An early front-runner for the Sunbury position, Mark Johnson, is believed to be intending to nominate for the AFL draft, effectively ruling himself out of the running for the job.
Total Package believed to be $90k, not to challenge for a premiership and pay that sort of money for 1 year for 2 people is flipping crazy, but if they can afford that money then watch out when they start throwing the cash at players to virtually buy a premiership.
I think the term 'buy a premiership' is pretty much redundant these days, as to acheive success in any of the major local comp's you have to spend large amounts of $$$. Obviously it still varies from league to league as to how much is spent. Money is part of local footy now so as mind boggling as it may be as to how much clubs are willing to spend, that's footy so let's move on....... Players can make money a lot closer to home than Sunbury too...
