JETS boss Ernie Merrick says the last thing he’ll do is tell people how to coach.
But with the way Newcastle are going this season, there would be plenty willing to listen if he did.
Merrick, though, will offer insights into how Newcastle have climbed from last to second spot this season in a special coaching workshop at McDonald Jones Stadium on Saturday.
Organised by Northern NSW Football, the two-hour session is open to all coaches.
NNSWF chief David Eland said the federation was the envy of all other state bodies to have the region’s A-League coach provide a seminar during the season.
Merrick said he promised to do the session when he arrived in Newcastle last year and “it’s just fortunate that we’ve had such a good run because I suppose it gives the talk a bit more credibility, but even if we weren’t where we were, I’d still be doing it.
“I’m just giving a talk on the things we do that work for me.
“It might not be ideal or suit you, or maybe you can’t apply it, but the last thing I’m going to do is start telling people how to go about the business of coaching.
“It’s more about a session of what we do at the Jets from top to bottom.”
The session has been moved to a bigger room at the stadium after tickets sold out quickly through the NNSWF website.
The two-time A-League coach of the year said he would attempt to provide “a picture of how we try to develop a winning culture.”
“I’m going to try to summarise team culture, recruitment, which is crucial, strategy, attacking and defensive play, then physiological preparation. How we prepare boys physically and a little bit of the mental side of it as well.
“Getting them used to performing under mental and physical stress.”
Merrick said he had been “pretty impressed” with the level of coaching development in the region after seeing several junior tournaments, clinics and senior NPL games.
“To me, parents play the first role because it’s about having the time to take your kids to clinics and sometimes getting involved in coaching,” he said.
“And from the enormous interest I’ve seen amongst the kids, they’re doing it right because first and foremost, it’s about being fun and social and running around with your friends.
“Some NPL sides have been pretty impressive as well. I think the standards is very good given you’re in a provincial area, and not a major city where there’s a greater pool of talent.
“I think the standard is very good and from that the coaching is very good as well.”
Coaches at Saturday’s session receive 6.25 FFA CPD points.
It starts at 11:15am. Register here for the session.
