Ken Moore: How did you get involved with the Kooweerup footy club?
John Stanley: Through Peter Bastinac, who I worked with at Narre Warren, and the opportunity arose and I was only too happy to come and work for Peter again.
KM: What are the issues that face a club like Kooweerup?
JS: It is just a matter of making sure that we consolidate our juniors, which is where the future of the club is. Not having under 17s has been bit of a challenge but there are strong under 15s coming through that should go on to make strong senior players. The biggest challenge is to maintain the local players.
KM: Kooweerup has not won a premiership since the early eighties. Can the Demons get back to those glory days when they regularly made the finals?
JS: Yes, I think they can. There is a good nucleus and a good bunch of lads who have come down with Pete and if all these players stick together in the coming years they will only get stronger and stronger. The young kids are coming through, like Gavin Marusic, and I think they can get back to those glory days if we can keep that type of player at the club.
KM: What is the general opinion about the move across from West Gippsland to the Ellinbank League?
JS: I think it was a better move for Kooweerup to come back to the Ellinbank League; geographically it appears to be a better area to be in. They struggled to get support to go out to the clubs in the West Gippsland league and now seem to be able to attract players to the club, so it is now covering both those areas.
KM: I’ve been told that you are an astute tactician of the game. What do you think about the flooding tactics that have been introduced to AFL footy?
JS: I think it is a real blight on the game. A lot of people don’t agree with him but Sam Newman is right, it is not good for football. Let’s get back to the oldfashioned manonman football where you win your position. The crowd will drop off if the flooding tactics continue to happen.
KM: After today, have the Demons turned around the season?
JS: I think we have and can use today as a steppingstone. Injuries played a big part over recent weeks but that is no excuse. We put 21 players out on the track and we expect them all to give 100 per cent and that is what they did today. There is still room for improvement but it appears we have now turned it around and I think we should now go from strength to strength.
