STAN Magro admits his mates back in Perth gave him plenty of grief when he told them he was moving to Victoria to coach Myrtleford.
"They were really hanging it on me," the former Collingwood star says with a chuckle. "They kept asking me, 'Why are you going to Turtleford?'"
It's no wonder Magro's friends thought his decision was a bit of a laugh. After all, the Myrtleford Football Club is struggling to survive. Its senior team has not won a game since 2007, and its losing streak now stands at 44 matches. Last year it was regularly beaten by 25 goals.
Yet Magro is excited by the challenge he's taken on, which begins in earnest today when the Saints open their Ovens and Murray league campaign against Wangaratta Rovers.
"At 56, you don't get the chance to do things like this very often," Magro says. "I may never get the chance to coach again, especially taking on a club in this position. I enjoy meeting people and it's been really fantastic since I've been here."
Magro grew up in Perth and first came to prominence when he joined WAFL club South Fremantle as a teenager. He soon caught the eye of VFL scouts and in 1977 he was recruited by Collingwood, where he developed a reputation for toughness and determination.
Initially a centreman and later a back pocket, Magro played in four grand finals with the Magpies (two in 1977, then 1979 and 1980), but after notching up 96 VFL games, he headed back to Perth without a premiership. He began building his impressive coaching resume in the mid-1980s, when he took the top job at South Fremantle.
In 1994, Magro returned to football's highest level when he began working as an assistant coach at Collingwood under Leigh Matthews. A stint at Fremantle followed, before Magro went back to the WAFL as coach of Perth in 2001.
After guiding the Demons through a rebuilding phase, he parted ways with the club in 2005. By then he felt it was time to relax and enjoy the game from the stands. That was until Myrtleford came knocking.
"We've had a good relationship with Western Australia and we've recruited a few footballers from WA over the years," says Myrtleford's new president, Adrian Villella. "One of our ex-players suggested we talk to Stan and that's how it all started."
Keen for a tree-change, Magro and his wife visited the Ovens Valley late last year and were immediately impressed by the area's natural beauty. But did he have the energy to take on a club that had gone winless for more than two seasons?
"The thing that swayed me was the memories of my first year of coaching," explains Magro. "It was at a little place called Wagin, 2½ hours south-east of Perth. I travelled down there and played and coached. I enjoyed that as much as the years when I played in the VFL. It was bloody great, especially the people. We ended up winning the premiership and that really topped it off."
Given the sparse nature of Myrtleford's current playing stocks, the Saints won't be in a position to win a flag for quite some time. However, Magro's arrival - he has signed a two-year contract with the option of a third - has coincided with some major changes at the embattled club.
First, Villella has replaced long-serving president Bill O'Donohue. And the club's board, which had only four members last year, now has 14.
Villella is adamant those involved have learnt much from the near-fatal boom-bust cycle.
In 2005 and '06, Myrtleford spent up big, trying to win its first premiership since 1970. The result was two heartbreaking grand final losses and a debt of $80,000. When the money ran out, the hired guns left and the Saints tumbled.
The situation reached crisis point early last year, when on the eve of the season the club had only 32 players. Enough were found to enable the Saints to field a senior and reserves team each week, but the scores were consistently ugly.
"We could've closed the doors," says Villella. "It would've been easier. But we're passionate people and we want to change things so our kids have a club in the future."
Despite the arrival of Magro, recruits have been hard to find during the off-season, so the new coach knows the season ahead will be tough. Big defeats in practice matches against Wodonga Raiders and Corowa-Rutherglen have confirmed the extent of the challenge.
Magro's emphasis will be on building up the number and quality of young players coming through. He has already been impressed by the Alpine Eagles concept, which has resulted in the Saints and nearby Ovens and King league club Bright pooling their juniors.
As a result, an under-16 team playing under the Eagles banner follows Bright, while an under-18 side follows Myrtleford. The arrangement has already helped produce two budding guns, with Hugh Wales (Murray Bushrangers) and Fraser Dale (Calder Cannons) both lining up in the TAC Cup this year.
Another key development points to a brighter future. Around $500,000 of government money has been invested in renovating the Ablett Pavilion (which is used by a number of community organisations) at McNamara Reserve, meaning the club now has facilities that befit a major league club.
Yet, there is a mountain of work ahead. "This year, the reality is that we'll probably struggle to win one or two games at best,'' Villella says. ''But I tell you what, you'll hear about it when we do."
Article by Adam McNicol
Article first appeared The Sunday Age, April 4, 2010
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