#INFOCUS2018 | BLACKBURN

By: Daniel Cencic 

Twitter: @DC_EFL

Baptisms of fire don’t come much bigger than opening a club coaching career with a standalone game in Division 1. 

For new Blackburn coach Brendan Allen, his baptism of fire will be just that – with his side taking on Doncaster in tomorrow’s Good Friday clash at Morton Park.

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The former Sandringham VFL coach takes over from Kon Karavias, who stood aside at the end of last season due to work commitments.

Allen has had a seamless transition into the Panther Pit.

“It’s been easy to walk into the position because Kon is now is the general manager of footy – he set it all up and I could just come in and coach,” Allen said.

“He’s a brilliant operator and it’s a bit of a shame he’s had to not fulfil the fruits of his labour because of work commitments (but) he’s still an integral part of the program.”

Anthony Fagan has stood aside as captain, succeeded by Pat Contin. PICTURE: Davis Harrigan

The Panthers finished fifth last season, defeating tomorrow’s opponent Doncaster to the tune of 38 points in the first week of the finals, followed by a 45-point win over Balwyn in the semis before their season came to a halt against eventual premier South Croydon in the preliminary final.

Pat Contin will captain the club this season, due to Anthony Fagan taking on the role of football operations at Richmond’s VFL side.

Fagan will play and train with Blackburn when his VFL commitments allow, while Contin will be flanked by Xavier Murphy, Luke Parker and Nathan Hammond as vice-captains.

Blackburn has been one of the heavy recruiters of Division 1 this off-season, as it looks to go one better this year.

Headlining the recruits is Collingwood VFL onballer Nick Gray, along with Pat Lawlor from Coburg and formerly of Box Hill.

“Nick is originally a Mansfield boy and he’s fit straight in – we’ve got him as an assistant coach as well,” Allen said.

“He’s taken to the club like a duck to water – it’s interesting that his dad actually coached the club way back in the ‘70s so there’s a massive connection there.

“He’s a very classy player and in our two practice matches, you can just tell that he oozes class every time he gets the footy.”

“(Pat) probably more notably he played his best footy with Box Hill – he’s actually an ex-Vermont junior so we’re lucky that he chose our program over theirs,” Allen said.

“He had a lot of pressure to go back but we left him alone to weigh up where he wanted to play his senior footy and he’s chosen us, so we’re really rapt to have him.”

Sandringham trio Kade Answerth, Jack Noone and Dylan Weickhardt have all aligned with Blackburn this season, along with Port Melbourne’s Jordan Lisle, a former junior at the Burners.

Jake Hammond has re-committed to the club after training with North Melbourne’s VFL side late last year. Allen believes falling short of a grand final by 16 points last season, along with playing with his mates swayed Hammond to stay at Morton Park.

“He’s Blackburn through and through and I think it was the lure of just missing out on a grand final last year and playing footy with his mates,” he said.

“The eight weeks he did with North Melbourne have been great for him because he came back super fit – he’s actually flying at the moment.

Meanwhile, Max Otten is expected to return about Round 6 after coming back from a knee reconstruction, while Julian Soccio is available after returning from overseas

“Max Otten is probably going to be Round 6 – he had a dislocation at training (this week) of his little finger so he’s not having much luck,” Allen said.

“It’s slowly-slowly with Max but it’s more about the pointy end of the season when the whips are cracking.”

Finals are on the agenda again for the Panthers, with Allen hopeful of the game-plan standing up to the pressure of the business end of the season.

“We expect to play finals and then it’s a bit of luck from there,” he said.

“We haven’t thrown the baby out with the bathwater with what Kon’s been building game-plan-wise, we’ve just tinkered and refined it a bit and it should hopefully set us up to be playing pressure games and finals footy so it’d be great to try it out when the whips are cracking.”

And what better way to try out a high-pressure game-plan than a blockbuster clash with a finals-like atmosphere on Good Friday.

“I live in Kew East so when you go up to any of the local hotels and they find out you’re coaching Blackburn, everyone seems to tell you that it’s like coaching Richmond – it’s a massive cult-following and big expectations,” Allen said.

“You play and coach for games like this – it’s where you want to be.

“I’m really excited and so are the boys to kick the season off on a big note.”

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