Former AFL player Brendan Roberson has been lured from the coaching wilderness to take over at the helm of Hume league club Brock-Burrum. Robertson accepted the Saints' top job earlier this week in his first senior coaching job since leading Thurgoona in 2006. The 53-year-old replaces Peter Cook who has led the Saints to finals in his two seasons in charge and announced he would be stepping down last month. Roberson suspected he may have been the '1000th call' Saints officials made when he received a call last Sunday to gauge his interest in the vacant coaching position. "I've got a feeling that I might have been the club's 1000th phone call to be honest," Roberson said. "But I don't receive phone calls everyday to coach a footy club these days and it might not happen again.. So I thought to myself why not? "I wasn't expecting to be involved in football at all next year and was just planning on going to watch my son Tyler play for Thurgoona most of the season. "Country clubs have to spend a lot of money to secure a senior coach these days because of the commitment involved and probably need someone out on the ground leading the way. "So being a non-playing coach, my biggest task now is to find someone that can complement me out on the ground." Roberson is confident that the club will be able to keep the majority of its senior core with Harry Weaven (North Albury) and Jeremy Luff (Chiltern) confirmed departures. "I went to pre-season training on Wednesday night for a look and there were 30 senior players on the track which is good numbers for this time of the year," he said. "I obviously haven't had a chance to talk to the players individually yet, including 'Cookie' but I'm hoping that I will be able to keep the list together." Roberson boasts O&M coaching experience and was an assistant coach at Lavington in the mid 1990s and most recently assisted former North Albury coach Isaac Muller in 2019. "People talk about footy changing a lot but when I was helping Isaac in 2019, I personally thought one thing Isaac did well was educate the club on the modern game plan," Roberson said. "I thought that was Isaac's legacy during his time at North Albury. "I remember when I was an assistant coach under Bruce Stewart at Lavington in 1995 and we went down to Essendon and spent some time with Kevin Sheedy. "The biggest difference I've found between then and now is the coaching lingo and the use of terms. "But once I worked out the new terminology, I thought to myself 'we were doing this back in the 1990s, it's just called something different now.'" The Saints boast an enviable recent finals record and have contested finals every season since 2010 for four flags in 2013-15-16-18. Roberson said his goal would be to extend the Saints' finals streak. "It's an impressive finals record considering Osborne have won four flags as well during that period," he said. "So my main aim will be once again to make finals and I don't want to be known as the first Saints coach not to play finals in 14-years. "My first impression after watching training the other night was the energy amongst the group and the enthusiasm, so there is a good dynamic." Despite being well behind the eight ball in regards to recruiting, Roberson vowed he would leave no stone unturned in regards to landing the highest profile assistant coach he could find. "The budget I've got for a playing assistant coach or co-coach is significant and enough for a deposit on a house," Roberson said. "So I've got decent resources to attract a high-profile recruit. "I'm talking about somebody the calibre of Dean Polo, Brayden O'Hara, Jake Gaynor or Tom Hargreave. "Even Lachie Taylor-Nugent would be ideal but he won't pick up his phone at the moment. "So Lachie, if you happen to be reading this article, answer your phone so we can have a chat." Roberson's appointment completes the coaching jigsaw puzzle with all clubs in the O&M, Hume, TDFL and Upper Murray having finalised their senior coach for next year.
