Weekly Times | THEY narrowly missed each other at Lucknow and are back coaching their old clubs after a year in the East Gippsland umpires’ ranks.
The coincidences mount up for senior coaches Lachlan Forbes and Adam Rees who will face off this weekend as Bruthen meets Swan Reach in the Omeo and District Football League.
Forbes has returned to Bruthen, where he made his senior debut as a 17-year-old in 1991.
After playing 244 senior games with the club, Forbes enjoyed a relatively successful two-year stint as senior coach, taking the Bulldogs to finals twice before he joined East Gippsland league club Lucknow as an assistant coach in 2013.
When a new coach came in ahead of last season, Forbes thought he would try his hand at umpiring.
“I’d umpired junior games and quite enjoyed it,” Forbes said.
“It was at that stage I approached the East Gippsland Umpires’ Association at training. I started umpiring and did it all last year and really enjoyed it.”
Adam Rees’ transition to umpiring resulted under quite different circumstances.
The 2009 Swan Reach premiership coach departed the club in 2012 to join Lucknow as a player for a season — just missing Forbes’ tenure at the club.
Rees “thoroughly enjoyed” his time as Magpie with friends, before he took the 2013 season off to focus on family.
After returning to Swan Reach in 2014 to play, Rees injured his shoulder and underwent a shoulder reconstruction.
He took up umpiring last year to help his recovery and “fill a bit of [his] own void.”
“I’ve told the umpires how to do their job for the last 25 years, and I thought I’d better have a go at this,” Rees said.
The pair have now played and coached against each other and umpired together, including a final last year.
The two are preparing for another meeting this Saturday at Bruthen, with both sides going in with a win under their belts from the opening round last weekend.
Both coaches spoke about the challenges and rewards umpiring brought.
“It’s very challenging and very enjoyable and I’d recommend it to anyone” Forbes said.
“It was a really good experience,” Rees said.
“I got a lot out of it, learned a lot and a different aspect of football.”