By Terry Wilson
The dust has barely settled on a season of QAFL football but it already has been confirmed that three clubs will have new coaches in 2020.
Barry O’Brien (Wilston Grange) and Jared Marsh (Sandgate) made decisions to leave their respective clubs while Brydan Morgan (Western Magpies) is the victim of a season review of results at McCarthy Homes Oval.
O’Brien had just the one year in charge at Hickey Park after replacing Nathan Clarke but elected to ‘walk’.
The Gorillas finished eighth under O’Brien, a former Mayne and Coolangatta player.
“Things didn’t work out the way I would have liked so I stood down in regards to the way I felt things were going – and I’ll leave it at that,” said O’Brien.
O’Brien said he has already fielded a number of inquiries regarding coaching next year.
Across town Marsh also made the decision to part company with Sandgate after four seasons at Lemke Road Oval for little success.
He met with the club’s board last week when he made up his mind to leave.
“We spoke about where we’re at and what we need in resources to get better,” said Marsh.
“I reckon they need some fresh ideas and they need to attract players.
“I don’t want to pot them but they are under-resourced and I couldn’t see it getting any better quickly.
“They need something to happen on that front and maybe a new coach might be able to attract some experienced players.”
Sandgate president Scott Albury said Marsh had done a good job trying to develop a big number of juniors through the ranks.
“He has worked really hard with our young group and kept a young list together,” said Albury.
“He has done good job through tough times.”
Over at Chelmer Morgan’s three-season reign has come to an end after as many successive sixth place finishes, each time narrowly missing the finals.
After meeting with the club’s football committee Morgan said both parties agreed that they were not on the same page any more and that he was not the one to take them any further.
He acknowledged his blunt approach to coaching may have worked against him but he definitely wants to continue coaching somewhere else.
“Maybe I was a bit too hard on them but you learn and grow as a coach,” said Morgan.
“Maybe at times I was too direct with feedback and at times my intensity was probably too much for some of the players.
“Moving along I feel I will be a better coach for it.”
Morgan said that perhaps his expectations were higher than some players expected of themselves and the team this year.
“I definitely want to stay involved in coaching,” he said. “I love the game and I love coaching and I’ll be forever thankful to the Maggies for the opportunity for three years.
“It just didn’t pan out the way we wanted it.”
Magpies president Andrew Thompson said Morgan worked extremely hard, at times putting in 40 hours a week working on ways to take the Magpies to the top.
The current developments, coming only a week after that brilliant grand final at Metricon Stadium where Surfers Paradise claimed the flag, continue the modern-day coaching merry-go-rounds at QAFL clubs.
In the months after the 2018 season there were an unprecedented six clubs to have new coaches for 2019.
They were premiers Palm Beach Currumbin (Jess Sinclair), runners-up Broadbeach (Beau Zorko), Morningside (Clint Watts), Mt Gravatt (Adam Boon), Labrador (Liam Burke) and Barry O’Brien at Wilston Grange.
