RIGHT AT HOME

MATTHEW GALEA

July 10 2014

Shepparton News

David Davkovski has promised to bring Goulburn Valley Suns home after being appointed the National Premier Leagues club’s third senior coach.

Davkovski replaces Peter Zois at the helm, after the latter resigned on Monday following a failed tenure as coach, in which he controversially moved senior training to Melbourne once a week.

The Shepparton resident has been involved in the Suns from day one, following a playing career which took him to Melbourne before returning to play for Shepparton in the Regional Premier League.

Before taking on the senior job, Davkovski was involved in the senior coaching set-up — as an assistant coach to inaugural coach and technical director Melvyn Wilkes — as well as coaching the Suns’ under-15 team.

Davkovski expressed his relief in being handed the job and said he was looking forward to getting the club on track on and off the field.

‘‘To be honest, I’m relieved. I felt the club was moving in a bad direction and moving training to Melbourne wasn’t the best move,’’ Davkovski said.

‘‘We are a Shepparton club and we’re bringing it back to Shepparton.

‘‘At the moment, the kids in the under-12 to under-17 sides, they don’t know who anyone in the seniors is and we need to jell as a unit, as a club.’’

Davkovski said senior players would have a meet and greet with the juniors and their parents at training tomorrow, while as of next week senior training would be held at the same venue as junior training.

‘‘It’s been a bit up and down this season and I don’t think it’s anyone’s fault,’’ Davkovski said.

‘‘We can all point the finger, but a lack of grounds and facilities . . . it hasn’t worked so far and it shows in our league position.

‘‘They’ve asked me what I think and I think it can be fixed. That doesn’t necessarily mean avoiding relegation, but it means we can build and salvage something from this year if we get the systems right.

‘‘We still struggle in the under-15 and 16 age groups, but if we’re training where they are and these kids think they can hang around and watch a Simon Colosimo after training, we think that’s something these kids will want to be a part of.’’

Davkovski hoped to see improvement in senior results as well.

‘‘You can’t tell me on paper we shouldn’t be getting better results. I don’t think we have to change a lot,’’ Davkovski said.

‘‘I’ll change some of the positioning and some of the structure.’’

However, Davkovski said he was more concerned with the overall future of the club.

‘‘I believe in this project and I want it to succeed. I’m not here because my son plays for the Suns and I’m certainly not doing it for the money, but I’ve spoken to guys like Pat Kielty and other junior committee members and we’re all on the same page,’’ Davkovski said.

Suns board member Michael Crisera acknowledged the club had made mistakes, but hoped this was a step in the right direction.

‘‘We’ve made mistakes and we understand that. Hopefully a year under our belts means we won’t make them again,’’ Crisera said.

‘‘When we lost Peter (Zois), we wanted to utilise someone locally and start building for next year.

‘‘We want to start and build a club culture and club philosophy, which comes down to the coach”.