New Roxburgh Park coach Ross Terranova was always keen to get back into a head coaching role.
Having departed Glenroy at the end of the 2022 season, Terranova spent this year as an assistant coach at Greenvale.
In the back of his mind, he always wanted another opportunity to lead a side in his own right.
“It’s something a little bit different from the last six to eight years,” he said. “It’s a good challenge and there’s still a fire in the belly.
“When I left Glenroy, it was a little bit unexpected and I still wanted to coach.
“They’ve been in the middle of the road for the last four years and hoping to put something in place to get them up a bit.”
Terranova said the opportunity to be an assistant coach under AFL premiership player, Darren Bewick was a really good experience.
He said the Jets were aware from the start that he was planning on coaching again after this year.
“They were fantastic and they knew the situation from the start,” he said. “Darren is an accomplished coach.
“It was good to see the way some things are done, they definitely do it differently.
“I learned a lot more and you learn about yourself. It was a great learning curve and I’m like a sponge and want to continue to learn.”
Terranova said the challenge at Roxburgh Park is similar to the one that he faced when he was at Glenroy, a side that has been middle of the table in division 1.
He said they had a good age demographic and a group of players willing to buy in, led by their leaders.
“There’s been around sixth and seventh the last few years,” he said. “I had a little bit of a connection with Jamie and Sue Grant.
“It’s close to home and ticks a lot of boxes and we’ve been talking to them for a couple of months.”
Terranova said while it would be a new challenge for him, it would also be for the playing group.
“I haven’t seen a lot of them being in premier division,” he said. “I’m going to get to see how they play.
“I’ll look to get a bit of a gauge of the group playing at this level and go through the process and get a bit of an understanding of the list.
“I want to look to take the group to another level.”
