Anthony and David Parkin, back, addressed coaches from across the YVMDFL at Healesville Football Club. Healesville’s new senior coach Sean Ellis, front, and junior club president Nick Connell were among the captive audience.By Paul Pickering
HEALESVILLE Football Club played host to one of the modern game’s most influential father-son duos before the start of the 2007 YVMDFL season.
Representatives from across the Yarra Valley Mountain District Football League were a captive audience for the address by David and Anthony Parkin.
Anthony, who is the development manager for the Eastern Ranges in the TAC Cup, said he was honoured to speak alongside his father, AFL premiership player and coach, for the first time.
The pair spoke about the increasingly scrutinised pathway from junior football to the AFL ranks, the imperatives of contemporary coaching, and the many issues in the game that polarise the Parkin family.
As the head of talent identification for Melbourne’s east, Anthony has cast a keen eye over the YVMDFL of late, allowing him to provide an expert assessment of the region’s junior program.
Noting the increasing emphasis on strategy and physicality in the junior game, Anthony encouraged club administrators to regard the Eastern Ranges as a resource rather than a carnivorous rival.
He also put a refreshingly positive spin on the affect of drought conditions, suggesting that the necessity to cross-train players during the pre-season has forced clubs to think laterally with their conditioning procedures.
David, who is currently balancing media commitments at Foxtel with a role on the AFL research board and a lecturing stint at Deakin University, offered a candid assessment of the state of the game.
Suggesting that “the game has become too predictable”, David conceded a preference for the grass-roots brand of football.
“Amateur footy’s so good because they know the words but don’t know the music,” he quipped.
“We don’t want a game we can predict, we want uncertainty.”
Healesville’s junior president Nick Connell said the audience could only be inspired by David’s passion and depth of knowledge.
“There’s nothing he hasn’t done in the game,” Nick said. “It was just fantastic to have him here.”
