FORMER Launceston State League premiership coach Anthony Taylor will coach the Tasmanian team in their representative clash against the NEAFL at Bellerive Oval in June replacing Brett Geappen.
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Taylor coached the Blues to the 2011 TSL premiership and the 2012 grand final before stepping down from coaching because of a young family.
He confirmed to Fairfax Media on Wednesday that he had been approached by AFL Tasmania general manager Carl Saunder about taking on the state coaching job and after discussions had decided to accept the role.
“I don’t know how my name came up but I had a coffee with Carl and we discussed the role and I was very keen to do it and jumped at the opportunity,” Taylor said.
He was an assistant state coach to both Adam Sanders and Brett Geappen previously and helped out with the Tassie Mariners but will step back up to a head coaching role for the first time since 2012. Taylor will be an assistant coach at NTFA club South Launceston this season under Leigh Harding as well as doing the state job.
“I will be up at Youngtown so obviously back involved in footy and I will just have to juggle commitments with them and get around as many State League games as I can,” he said. “Leading into the final month before the June state game it will be full-on state stuff.”
Taylor has begun discussions with State League coaches regarding assistant roles but no decisions had been made.
“We’re going through that process at the moment because in an ideal world we could have four TSL coaches playing which could affect who we have taking lines,” he said. “The attraction for me was that if we’ve got an injury-free and in-form list I think we can do really well and it is a huge honour to coach a senior state team.
“I have a strong belief in Tassie footy and with the quality of senior coaches and players we’ve got back in the state this year I think we can push and get a win.”