When Ryan Tout left Werribee three years ago to take up an assistant coaching position in the Hockey Victoria men’s premier league under former Olympian Travis Brooks, it was always planned as a boomerang move.
Tout had long envisioned a future as coach of the Werribee men’s team, but needed to be equipped with the tools to get the most out of his coaching.
“Ten years ago, when I was running around coaching some junior teams, one of the senior coaches and founding members Alan Baillie said that one day I’d either be the president of the club or the senior coach,” Tout said.
PICTURE GALLERY: Werribee v Brunswick
“I thought president was a dumb gig, you’ve got to work too hard and there’s no glory in it, so I thought I better work hard at becoming a senior coach.
‘‘It’s a dream that I’ve had for quite a while, so I went to Footscray to gain more experience.”
Tout has found that coaching can be a tough gig too at times, particularly when his team is losing.
The Tigers are in a form slump and desperate not to sink deeper into the quicksand.
They lost a heartbreaker to Brunswick at Presidents Park on Saturday – conceding two goals in the last five minutes after fluffing a number of chances of their own – and tumbled into the bottom two.
Tout knew that implementing a new game plan, instilling a premier league approach and utilising a full squad of players would not lead to glory in year one.
But he never considered relegation an option in his first season in charge.
That’s why this Saturday’s home clash withOld Xaverians, sitting two spots above the Tigers on the ladder, is seen as a must-win game for Tout and his players. “It’s a crunch game,” he said.
“The boys came off the pitch [after the Brunswick game] and were probably the most disappointed I’ve seen them all season in terms of not getting the win.
“I think they’ll be massively up for the game at the weekend.”
Tout is confident the game plan is starting to click but admits his team has lacked the finish in recent weeks.
He needs more goals out of the front line, led by Andrew Purcell, Sam Huxtable and Josh Pace.
Huxtable is one of the most lethal goal scorers in the competition, with 11 for the season, but has been quiet of late.
“He needs to return to his goal hitting form,” Tout said.
“He hasn’t hit many goals in the past two or three weeks.”
