Tara Murray
Winning a premiership for John Mangos was the perfect way to put forward his case for Braybrook’s permanent senior coach in the Western Region Football League..
Mangos was appointed the Brookers interim coach after taking on the coaching role in the lead up to division3 finals.
He took over the role after the club parted ways with Vinnie Turcinovich, who was suspended for the rest of the season. Turcinovich had already announced he wasn’t continuing on next season.
The Brookers under Mangos succeeded to not only win one final, but to win three and the premiership.
Mangos said after the premiership that he wanted the job. He got his wish.
“How good is that,” he said last week. “It’s a bit of a relief.
“I’ve always wanted to coach in division 2 and now I get the opportunity.”
Mangos said the decision to join the Brookers this year as an assistant coach was about getting involved in a different league.
He had spent all his coaching career in the Essendon District Football League including coaching Keilor Park when it re-entered the league in 2019.
It was his first season coaching job.
Mangos said there had been no pressure on him during the finals series when he took over as coach this year.
“What happened at the end of the season meant there was no pressure on me and it was a bit of a trial period running Braybrook,” he said.
“We won and go up to division 2, but after me taking over before the first final, I don’t think anyone thought we would win the first final, let alone the premiership.
“That’s a massive bonus.”
Mangos said he would look to bring in some people to his coaching team. He was already starting to talk to players from outside the WRFL, while others chat to those in the league.
“We have nothing to lose,” he said. “It’s a great opportunity.
“It’s about continuing to follow the process. We’ll do a lot of pre-game simulation at training and getting the players fit and see wherever that leads in the season.”
The club in its announcement said it had signed Mangos for the next two years.
“In arguably the greatest finals campaign in memory, a must win elimination final followed by a preliminary final and grand final that nobody thought we had a chance at winning, John’s professionalism, preparation leading into must win games and his communication with the playing group was second to none,” the club said in the announcement.
“John will be proudly leading the club back into division 2 next season. Three wins from three games, you couldn’t ask for a better job interview.
“We can’t wait to see what he can do with our list over two seasons.”
