Tigers coach hunts down New Club Captain
coburgtigers.com.au
It has taken Andy Collins four years and just about as many changes of clubs, but the Coburg Tigers coach has finally secured his man.
Travis Ronaldson, the new captain of Coburg for season 2006, has been in Collins sights dating back to the days when the former Hawthorn and Sandringham premiership player and coach was at Mitcham. Collins was searching for a ruckman for Mitcham, and Ronaldson, who played with Gippsland Power in the TAC Cup, fitted the bill.
Ronaldson made the Victorian Country squad at the NAB AFL Under-18 National Championships the previous year, a team that featured future AFL stars Gary Ablett junior (Geelong), Nick Dal Santo (StKilda), Jimmy Bartel (Geelong), Mark McGough (Collingwood/St Kilda), Steve Johnson (Geelong) and Jarrad Waite (Carlton).
So keen was Collins to snare Ronaldson that he drove to his home town Woodside, about 230 kilometres east of Melbourne, near the 90 Mile Beach. I thought I would get under everyone’s guard, Collins said. However, Tasmania trumped Collins with an offer that proved slightly more appealing because of the chance to do a university course.
Collins understood Ronaldson’s decision, and in fact, he applauded it. It was a really smart move, he said.
When Collins moved to the Box Hill Hawks in 2003, he made a renewed bid for Ronaldson and Simon Taylor. He secured Taylor, who was subsequently snapped up by Hawthorn in the 2004 NAB National Draft, but again Ronaldson slipped through the net, so to speak.
Just as he started to fire with Tasmania, Central Districts approached him and he went over there for a season. Ronaldson returned to Tasmania last season and Collins, who moved from the Box Hill Hawks to Coburg, admitted he had given up hope of recruiting him.
I suppose I hadn’t spoken to him for 18 months or so, and then out of the blue he rang up and said he was going to Melbourne University, and asked if I was interested in his services, Collins said I told him don’t joke with me now.
With Coburg Tigers’ ruckmen Michael Rix and Lachlan McKinnon rookie-listed by St Kilda and Essendon respectively, there was a big void at the City Oval in the ruck department. Collins had finally secured his prized recruit, and further supporting the coach’s faith in the 22-year-old, the leadership group at the Tigers elected Ronaldson as captain in his first year at the club. The appointment didn’t surprise Collins in the slightest. He’s just an outstanding young man, he said.
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