Beechworth has signed former AFL listed player Shaun Baxter as non-playing coach.
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Baxter replaces co-coaches Brenton Surrey and Jay Dale who informed club officials they would be stepping down earlier this month.
The 41-year-old has spent the past two years living in Corowa and plans to relocate to Beechworth in the coming months.
Baxter recently completed The Next Coach Program which is the AFL's highest level coaching program.
He was the only former player to complete the coaching program.
Joel Selwood, Mitch Duncan, Shaun Higgins, Robbie Tarrant, Jack Darling and Chris Mayne were also part of the program.
Baxter, alongside Damien Cupido were interviewed for the vacant coaching position at Corowa-Rutherglen before it appointed Peter German.
"Since I completed The Next Coach Program, I started to look around for opportunities," Baxter said.
"I relocated to Corowa from North Queensland about two years ago.
"I plan to relocate to Beechworth and want to be a part of the community, not just the football club.
"I want to be able to walk down the street and engage with supporters and sponsors.
"I also want to be available to the players and if they want to catch-up, I will only be a short drive away."
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Baxter has defied the odds after being told as an 18-year-old that he had less than one year to live after being diagnosed with cancer.
After playing TAC Cup for Geelong Falcons, Baxter was drafted by Footscray in the 1994 national draft.
He spent three seasons with the Bulldogs but spent much of that time battling throat cancer.
Baxter defied doctors' predictions to overcome the disease and returned to play for the Bulldogs' reserves in 1997.
But the club made the tough decision to delist him at the end of 1997.
He was picked up by Geelong in the rookie draft, but did not play a senior game for the Cats.
Baxter joined East Perth for the 2002 season, playing in the Royals' WAFL premiership that year.
Baxter has previous coaching experience initially in the Farrer league with East Wagga Kooringal under-18s.
He also coached at senior level in the amateur competition in Perth for half a season before stepping aside due to an employment opportunity.
Baxter has also spent time coaching professional motocross riders, sprint car drivers and mountain bike riders.
"One of the kids I coached while I was in Perth was Kyle Webster who represented Australia last year in the Motocross of Nations," he said.
"My main role as their coach was working with their mindset and fuelling their belief they could achieve something in their chosen sport."
Baxter said an emphasis on junior development was a major part of his coaching philosophy.
"One of my major focuses will be junior development," he said.
"I feel one of be biggest issues in community football is that clubs recruit players from out of town on big money.
"Some locals get frustrated by that and I feel there does need to be a different approach.
"What I would like to see is the mentoring of junior coaches and having the juniors teams learning the game plan of the senior side.
"So I'm planning to have a big impact on the juniors as well as the seniors."