With experience at AFL level, he is arguably one of the best credentialled coaches to hit the Far North, but Jason Roe is under no illusions he will step into the toughest gig in AFL Cairns next season.
The 45-year-old’s resume is bursting with accolades, but none bigger than his involvement with the Adelaide Crows in his role as player development observer for two years, which included their 1998 premiership-winning season.
A prominent name in South Australian AFL, Roe hung up the boots after seven years of playing with North Adelaide in the South Australian National Football League in 1993 and turned to coaching.
He was player-coach at Salisbury North before heading to the Crows, then took the reins of Gepps Cross and Broadview, where he won South Australian Amateur Football League division one premiership.
He was also the defensive coach for North Adelaide from 2006-2007, where he teamed with former Crows defender Ben Hart as defensive coach, along with well-known former Crows stars, brothers Darren (forward coach) and Andrew Jarman (head coach) to steer the side to a grand final.
Roe moved to Cairns 10 months ago, and had the perfect view of what’s required at the club after this year helping North Cairns Tigers coach Kane Richter on the bench.
But with the head coaching role taken up by Richter for another season at the Tigers, Roe wanted a coaching role of his own, and has signed a two-year contract with an optional third year at the Lions.
The club failed to win a game in their inaugural year since merging the Cairns City Cobras and Redlynch Lions, and Roe will go back to basics to reinvigorate the line-up.
"We’ll be taking small steps, it won’t happen overnight," he said. "It will be about going back to basics and making it enjoyable. There’ll be a game plan in place, and we will get a win and build from there. We won’t complicate it much."
New Lions president Wayne Keegan described Roe as the right fit for the club because of his "no-nonsense attitude" and said putting the right coaches in place would be the base to attract quality players and believes setting a goal of winning six to seven games would be ideal.
He said more appointments would be coming in the next week of assistants and reserves coaches.
Read more at http://www.cairns.com.au/article/2011/11/22/192655_local-sport-news.html
Courtesy of The Cairns Post.
Last Modified on 22/11/2011 12:52