Northey back in charge
18 November 2005
Herald Sun
Mark Robinson
JOHN Northey has put the coaching hat back on at age 62.
The former Sydney, Melbourne, Richmond and Brisbane coach has returned to country Victoria and will coach Ballarat in the Ballarat Football League. He was appointed this week.
Sadly, the proposal to coach Ballarat arose when Northey, who was living on the Gold Coast, returned to Ballarat for his father's funeral in early September.
"It was out of the blue," Northey said yesterday.
Northey will also manage the club's new $1.2 million licensed sports club. He had previously owned a bar and restaurant on the Gold Coast.
"They asked me about doing the job and I knocked them back . . . and then they came back with a proposal regarding their sports club," Northey said.
Now he's back at the helm and, he says, his passion has also returned.
"I suppose you mellow over the years of coaching," he said.
But has he mellowed? "We'll see . . . I'm sure I've still got that bit of venom I can throw out.
"Hopefully I can educate these kids well because they are a very young side, they haven't had any success for about 18 years, I believe."
A successful Victorian country coach, Northey coached four clubs in the AFL from 1985 to 1998 before coaching Broadbeach in Queensland and South Fremantle in Western Australia.
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/footy/common/story_page/0,8033,17283120%255E19742,00.html
