Mack Trucks Media - Meet the Senior Coach - Brydan Morgan
Andrew Thomson
Brydan Morgan comes to the Western Magpies with over 15 years experience within various levels of senior football. As a player and coach he has been directly involved in many successful teams across various levels of football. Most of his playing experience stems from Victoria with the Romsey Football Club and a stint at West Adelaide in the SANFL in 2006. He was made captain of Romsey (Riddell DFL--just north of Melbourne) as a 21 year old and played over 100 games with the club over seven seasons. Brydan enjoyed premiership success with Romsey in 2003 and made grand finals in 2005 and 2008 (Heathcote Football Club).
At 27, ongoing shoulder injuries and a career opportunity in the fire service prompted Brydan to retire from football and move to Queensland. Prior to working in the fire service, Brydan was a Physical Education teacher for 5 years which he believes is a good training ground for the communication and organisational skills a senior coach needs to get the best from his players.
After 5 years away from the game, Brydan served as an Assistant Coach with the Western Magpies in 2015. His influence in 2015 at the Western Magpies led to an assistant coaching role at the Aspley Hornets NEAFL in 2016, where the club made a preliminary final.
Brydan believes the year spent under the wing of one of Queensland football’s biggest names in John Blair has equipped him with extra knowledge and confidence to be a top line coach as he prepares to take flight with the Western Magpies in 2017.
“He’s a great football person and man manager. He gets the best out of people,” Morgan said of Blair.
“I learnt from him that it’s not rocket science or amazing game plans that made Aspley successful — it’s just a strong, winning culture. That shocked me a little bit to be honest."
He says the culture at the Western Magpies is strong but success in the past is no guarantee of success in the top level of the QAFL.
“It was good to be involved at Aspley but I wanted to take the reins myself. I’m really looking forward to that. It’s a tough gig as an assistant in some ways — you can look after the defensive group and they have a good day but still lose.”
“I took the (Magpies) job on knowing there would be a bit of change but the nucleus is there to still aim to finish in the top three."
The Pies finished second and third on the ladder in the past 2 years but had poor finals series in both years, a record he wants to address.
He has his players fit and has structured a game plan based on a strong defensive work ethic then to move the ball quickly into the forward line, which will be a smaller and faster unit this season. He will still have a strong midfield and the back line will also be largely intact this year.
Returning to the Western Magpies with undeniable passion and knowledge of the modern game, and of the Western Magpies playing list. The club looks forward to the on going development of the Western Magpies Football Club under his tenure.
