Border Mail | BARNAWARTHA coach Mark Sarau will retire at the end of the season.
After three years in charge of the Tallangatta and District Football League club, the former St Kilda runner has told Tiger officials this will be his last in the coaching box.
Sarau coached rival club Rutherglen for four seasons before joining Barnawartha.
“The time is right,” Sarau said yesterday.
“I’ve been doing it for seven years here after a long stint in Melbourne, 12 years in the amateurs and the VFL for four years and two years as a runner for St Kilda.
“Coming off the back of a fairly long playing career as well, it’s just time to let go.
“The motivation behind announcing it now is to give the club time to cast its net, and find someone who can hopefully be there for a few years and continue on the path that the club is on now.”
Sarau has Barnawartha sitting in fourth spot on the ladder after eight rounds despite a horrendous run with injuries and can climb higher by defeating winless Wodonga Saints at Martin Park on Saturday.
The 2013 premiership mentor admitted he would miss match days.
“I’ll miss Saturdays, but it’s all the other stuff that goes with it that I’m ready to give away,” he said.
“It’s a 12-month job effectively, we finished last year in September, and we were back to it again in October.
“It’s a big commitment, it would take up anywhere between 15 and 20 hours a week for me.
“I’d do reports on every player each week, the phone calls, pre-game planning, training, it adds up.
“That 15 to 20 hours is my time now, I regain that.”
Sarau moved to the Border from Melbourne in 2007 for a “tree change” and took over as coach of Rutherglen from Scott Thomson the following season.
He rated Josh Spence, Cam McNeill, Ian Kay, Josh Quick and Matt Glossop as the best players he had coached in the TDFL.
“Obviously the 2013 premiership at Barnawartha is a great memory,” he said.
“Making the finals in 2010 while I was at Rutherglen is another one that stands out to me.
“We only had one player with Ovens and Murray experience that year, so we basically did it with just local guys.
“We beat Kiewa in the first week of the finals, and I think that’s the only final Rutherglen has won while they’ve been in the Tallangatta league, they’ve only played in a few.
“But on a personal level, just to watch players come into your club, and develop and go has been the most rewarding thing for me."
