by Michelle De'Lisle, Stawell News-Times
Navarre premiership coach Daniel Parkin has committed to the Grasshoppers for another year.
Parkin told The Stawell Times-News of his intentions last week, although it wasn't an easy decision for him to make.
The 2013 coach was unsure if he had the time to lead the club again next season due to work commitments, but added that he doesn't want to waste all the hard work he has put in over the past two years.
"It was 50-50 if I wanted to go again or not big time," Parkin said.
"Things are looking alright so I'll go around for one more year.
"I didn't know if I could give 100 per cent for another year, but we'll go again. I don't want to see all that good work gone."
Defender Brent Flood, who debuted as an assistant coach for Navarre in 2013, is also coming back on board at the club.
Parkin said the club might get another assistant to make the workload for himself and Flood easier.
Flood works in Horsham while Parkin works long hours for Stawell Bobcat and Excavations, which puts pressure on the pair during the football season.
However, a joint coaching role between Flood and Parkin is currently out of the question.
"He's (Flood) knocked that on the head already so it's going to be me and maybe one or two assistants," Parkin said.
"At the moment, it will be a playing assistant coach but if it doesn't unfold, it will just be Floody and me."
Parkin admitted he received 'one or two' phone calls from other clubs.
"Everyone does it to any player really. You get the phone calls and that's whether you want it or not."
In other good news for Navarre, the main core of the playing group is returning again in season 2014 and that includes captain Louis Hannett.
The Grasshoppers 2013 best and fairest winner, onballer Ben Scott told Navarre at its presentation night that he would be lining up in the green and gold again next year.
"If we stick together as a community and club, who knows how many flags we'll win next year?" he said on the night.
Parkin did say though that players who have been travelling from towns such as Geelong, are still deciding whether or not to play on.
He added that while there hasn't been any confirmation that players are set to leave, he did know one or two won't be at the club in 2014.
"It's too early to tell. I've been given a couple of phone calls, but haven't really thought about football yet," he said.
"I'm just still enjoying what happened whereas other clubs finished five weeks ago and they're already on top of their recruiting.
"We might be behind the eight ball, but I think physically, most players are burnt out at the moment."
Over the summer, Navarre will be recruiting players to add to its premiership winning side with forwards on top of its list.
"We're looking at two or three key forwards, maybe another onballer/wing player or a backman," Parkin said.
"More just another key forward and whatever else, I reckon with what we've got we can develop in-house."
Last Modified on 25/10/2013 10:33