Brenton Surrey to coach Beechworth for the remainder of the season

The Bushrangers sensationally parted company with Shaun Baxter in April after only two matches in one the shortest coaching tenures in recent memory.

Surrey had acted as interim coach for the past month.

The club approached Surrey last Sunday about coaching for the rest of the year after failing to come up with a suitable replacement.

"It's a tough situation for everybody involved," Surrey said.

"Tough for the club because it's almost impossible to find a coach mid-season.

"Tough for me because of my business and family commitments.

"But as every coach will tell you the hardest part of coaching is from October to March with list retention, recruiting and planning for the season ahead.

"In saying that, it's still a big commitment to coach and it's just not a matter of rocking up to training twice a week and playing on Saturday."

Beechworth recruit Nathan Falkner who is sidelined with injury has been appointed assistant coach and has helped on matchday from the bench for the past few weeks.

"Nathan has been a real asset and has a lot of different ideas," Surrey said.

"But we are mindful the playing group has been learning a specific game plan since October and we don't want to come in and make wholesale changes.

"If we had someone from outside the group come in to coach and wanted to make a heap of changes, it could have ended up doing more harm than good possibly."

Surrey has been one of the club's most loyal servants and played in its most recent flag in 2010.

The 33-year-old notched his 250-match milestone in the Bushrangers' opening round match against Mitta United.

Surrey said he never contemplated abandoning the club in its hour of need.

"I'd hate to see the club in jeopardy of folding or anything like that," he said.

"I've got kids who play Auskick on a Sunday morning and that's why I'm so passionate about the club.

"Communities need sporting clubs and both football and netball are a great outlet for the kids."

Since the 2010 flag the Bushrangers have been stuck in the finals wilderness.

Surrey was of the opinion that not being able to retain the club's junior talent was one of the major reasons behind the finals drought.

"Retention of juniors is one of the biggest issues," he said.

"If you look at the 2010 flag winning side, 99 percent of the list either played juniors or lived in the town.

"From 2006 onwards we had a fantastically talented bunch of juniors coming through the ranks.

"Blokes like Kayde Surrey, the Carey boys and the Garland boys.

"I coached the thirds in 2006-07 and we were lucky enough to win the flag and played in grand finals previous to that.

"Since 2010 we are losing a lot of kids to the O&M thirds instead of playing seniors.

"Recruiting has always been tough, so the retention of kids has always been paramount to our success."

Beechworth president Adam Fendyk praised Surrey for his loyalty and dedication to the club.

IN OTHER NEWS

"Obviously finding a suitable coach is a tough gig at any time, let alone half-way through a season," he said.

"We contacted at least half-a-dozen people about the job who expressed interest in potentially coaching next year.

"To get Brenton was the best result for the club because he is a well credentialed coach and highly respected."

The Bushrangers are yet to win a match.

They face Wodonga Saints on Saturday who are also winless.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: