Insights with Daine Burnett

Daine Burnett is one of the Perth Football Club's Assistant League Coaches. He is also the Head Coach of the Futures, giving him a unique perspective of our both our senior and up-and-coming talent.

How do you find working with both the League and Futures teams?

I think I get the best of both worlds. I get to see the young talent that is coming through the Perth District and how we are working with them and then seeing their transition from the Futures, into the Colts, and then into the Senior side. Now I’m starting to see some of the boys that we had in 16s and Futures 3-4 years ago now playing League and Senior football. You can see what it takes to get there and the hard work that’s there and try to educate these young fellas at an early age to put the hard work in nice and early.

In what ways have the Futures grown since the start of the season?

I look at the Futures very early on, where their fitness and skill levels were a fair way off from the expectation from anyone in this sort of environment, however they have been a really determined little bunch and they have worked really hard. They’ve got their 2ker’s down, they’ve improved on their skills, it’s now just teaching them football elements and taking that growth another step further and putting them into the Colts footy.

Which players have you noticed step up to take on a leadership role on this team?

Boys who have really taken on the feedback that they’ve been given and now looking to be playing Colts footy tomorrow are Reagan Hill, James Edia, Tony Mussa, Jack Evans. There’s been a few others as well, but these guys have really come on board.

What are the key differences of coaching the Senior players rather than the Futures players?

A lot of more teaching points that go into the Futures. You’re teaching them how to position themselves body wise, and there is a lot more explanation around if you continue to do it this way, these are the repercussions of what happens. For the seniors, they already have that background knowledge, so it’s giving the Future players a lot more background knowledge and the purpose behind why we do something and the purpose behind it. With the Seniors, they already have that background knowledge, so we want to give them the purpose why it all happens.

What elements of the game do you believe you can develop in the players of this age group to prepare them to play with the League in the future?

Their work ethic, their skill execution, and their awareness of the game style.  

Due to the age difference, do you have to adjust your coaching style at all while working with the Futures rather than the League?

Both require a pretty different mindset. With the Seniors, you can be relaxed and have a bit of a joke, and I believe the Seniors do respond to that, but they also know there is enough credibility to where if you say something, they respect the honesty that comes with that. With the Futures, you definitely are trying to engage and develop a relationship with them. By doing that you’ve got to give a little bit and take a little bit as well and earn their trust.

How does being a primary school principal compare to coaching footy?

The biggest thing about football and school is education and it’s about creating a clear and easy message that is consistently understood. It is about expectations, being able to lead, and be at the front of what’s happening. Whether it be, whatever initiative is coming in, you’ve got to know what’s going on there. It is no different to being well prepared with football and making sure you are on the front foot of things and ready to go.

How do you keep the Futures motivated at this point in the season?

It has been a real challenge. This is the first year the season has gone on an extra 2-3 months. It has been a real challenge and so we have been changing it up. We had one 4-week block which is where we lost a few players, so we changed it up this 4-week block where it’s a little bit of skills and also getting in the gym. It is great to see the Futures players actually start to see the Perth football club as their footy club and starting to use the gym and start to be active and I think that’s what we’ve been able to do over the past 4 weeks.

What is your goal for the Futures for the rest of the season?

My goal for the Futures is not about wins or losses, it is about how many players I can get up to the Colts footy. The more that I can push up to Colts football and have ready to go the more success it’s been. It’s not necessarily about getting kids into state 16s, AFL lists, for us it’s about developing these players and giving them the tools to progress to the next level. We already have 5 or 6 this year making their debut with the Colts so it’s already been a pretty successful season already so we will keep working through it.

What has been your highlight of the season thus far?

For the Futures it was the constant effort and the way that they worked down at Peel Thunder. To come out one week and not hit the required performance that we are after and then the following week to only lose to Peel by a few points when they have been a really dominant side of the 16s for the past couple years so that was really, really pleasing. For the Senior boys it was great to see their start and how they have worked from their start, but now it is about maintaining a bit of consistency and hopefully this week we can get up and put one on the board.

How are you and the team feeling heading into Round 12 vs. East Perth?  

East Perth are a fantastic side, we’ve got our challenges with Perth. Hopefully we match up really well and we can give it a really good effort. No doubt the conditions are going to be a little bit wet, so hopefully we can adjust our game style to fit that and give it our best effort.