Brendan Forssman says he didn’t hesitate to say “yes” when asked to fill the recently vacated Winchelsea coaching job.
The Blues turned to their former long-serving mentor when Christian Shaw called it quits last week due to increased work commitments.
Forssman spent five years in charge at Eastern Reserve from 2017-2021, and with sons Bailey and Hayden still involved at the club, he was happy to fill the void created by Shaw when contacted by Winchelsea president Daniel Greskie.
“I’m always happy to help; ‘Dogs’ (Greskie) is a great mate of mine,” he said.
“And the club really stood by me when I had my health challenges a few years back.
“I’m always happy to help out wherever I can.”
Forssman took charge of training last (Tuesday) night ahead of Saturday’s season-opener against Thomson at Godfrey Street before being publicly unveiled as Shaw’s replacement.
It was the first time the playing group had been together since Shaw’s decision.
“We had a 30-minute chat before training to go through a few things and try to get some plans in place,” Forssman said.
“It’s probably pretty rare for a Tuesday before Round 1, but we had a scratch match – I just needed to have a look at some boys in a hitout.
“But, all the boys were up and about. We had just under 50 guys on the track, which was nice.”
With a holiday planned next month and motorsport commitments later in the season, Forssman confirmed he will only take charge of 12 games and any finals before hanging up the whiteboard again.
“I’ll try and get a couple of assistant coaches on board, and we’ll have some guys who can step in and take over,” he said.
“As well as, potentially, a couple of the current player group stepping up into that type of role as well.”
Forssman says with a tough beginning to the season against the Tigers, there is no great expectation on how the Blues perform this week.
“They’re a strong team, they’ve recruited well, and they’re coached well by ‘Lynchy’ (Paul Lynch), so it’s a tough challenge for us,” he said.
“I guess we get a little bit of a free hit.
“We’re probably not expected to do much this week with the challenges that have been thrown at the group.
“We’ll go there, have some fun, enjoy each other’s company and see how we go about it.”
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