FOOTBALL
GIPPSLAND LEAGUE
DROUIN Football Club has appointed former captain and twice best and fairest Bobby McCallum as senior coach for 2015 after original appointment Clint Proctor accepted a position as development officer for AFL Tasmania.
Ex-VFL player and Drouin native Proctor was named Hawks coach in September but recently informed the club he was pulling the pin.
Proctor will act as player-coach at Burnie in the Tasmanian State League next season in addition to his AFL Tasmania role, beginning 19 November.
Hawks president Eric Bott said there were no hard feelings over the late withdrawal.
“He didn’t actually leave us to coach another club, he left us for a career and if we get our minds around that, in any workforce if someone is going to better themselves in the sphere… morally within the corporate world you encourage people to take those opportunities,” Bott said.
“The Proctor family and Drouin footy club go back a long way… these things happen.
“It’s an interesting business this country footy at the moment, there’s lots of situations where you’d rather things didn’t happen but the nature of our community at the moment is that we’ve got a very transient sort of population, it’s very easy to move from one place to the other… so job opportunities come up and in that regard although it’s disappointing… you need to understand it, get over it and do something constructive and positive.”
Drouin released a statement last Monday congratulating Proctor on the appointment, and expressed disappointment at his decision to leave.
“This AFL Tasmania-type position has been a career move coveted by Clinton for some time, although the timing for the DFC makes this somewhat difficult to manage with official pre-season training to commence on November 19,” the statement read.
The club named about 10 new recruits under Proctor’s watch, including former Hawks captain Damien Carmody, ex SANFL man Cam Hall and Buln Buln pair McCallum and Sean Proctor.
Bott said the club was confident the signings would stay on despite Proctor’s departure.
“We’re pretty comfortable they’re all staying, we’ve spoken to them all and met with them all and there’s a positive vibe,” Bott said.
Drouin will begin pre-season training on Wednesday.
