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Ahead of the Tuesday night training session, we took a moment to catch up with Nick Pearson, our newly appointed Development and Reserves Coach for the 2024 season.
Our conversation provided valuable insights into his coaching journey and offered a preview of what lies ahead in the upcoming 2024 campaign with the coach at the helm.
Nick has been honing his coaching for the last 6 years down the Pacific Motorway, on the Gold Coast. In 2016, the budding coach starting off his career as reserves coach for Park Ridge AFC.
From there he coached at Carrara AFC in 2018, where he won a senior premiership in his first season as coach.
In the last few seasons under his tutelage, he guided Pacific Pines AFC to back-to-back premiership success.
But a friendly chat with Andy Colenso, who had been keeping an eye on the 36-year old’s coaching progression, set the course for an opportunity to be the new ‘Development Coach’ at the Panthers - an opportunity Nick took with both hands.
“Obviously I had known about Morningside, one of the largest clubs in Queensland” Nick said.
“I thought it was time to step out of the Friday night competition and come to an organisation like this (Morningside Panthers) where it’s very professional and a good place to develop my coaching credentials and for me, it’s the right place to be.”
Nick has quickly embraced his role with the Panthers QAFL squad, as they focus on their pre-season preparation for the 2024 campaign, set to commence on April 6th against rival Labrador Tigers. Pearson has been impressed with what he has seen so far and the potential of the squad.
“We have every potential, this a really, really good list. The depth of the squad is great, as we are in pre-season our focus currently is developing the team’s fitness, doing 3 nights a week with our club fitness coaches.”
The Reserves squad are looking forward to a couple of pre-season matches coming up against Wilston Grange and Surfers Paradise but Nick’s focus as Development Coach is solely on the progression of the squad.
“For the reserves group success for us isn’t about games as much as it is about elevating guys out of the development squad and into the Senior group.”
“The more guys who consider themselves reserve grade players, those are the guys we want to start wanting to be senior players. Success comes from those players who push and progress into the senior squad.”
Reflecting on the previous season's challenges, where the Senior Squad faced numerous injuries, Pearson sees it as a valuable learning experience for the reserves players who stepped up.
He believes this experience, along with adding some fresh faces into the senior mix, will foster healthy competition within the squad.
“Those guys are hungry now to continue to play senior footy, as well as an influx of senior players to the club, it now make our boys fight even harder to retain their position in the side, which is what we want as a football club.”
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