DARREN Ogier’s passion for football knows no boundaries.
It’s a passion that has manifested into a preparedness to travel to many and varied destinations to be involved with a game he clearly loves.
Few can rival his collection of football jumpers during a career that has spanned the highest level in the land, suburban and country and even overseas.
During his VFL career he played for Carlton, North Melbourne and Sydney, has dined out on playing for Carlton against North Melbourne at The Oval in the notorious 1987 match and returned there several years later to lead the Earl’s Court Kangaroos to a premiership in the British Australian Rules Football League.
Along the journey, Ogier has coached in the Essendon Football League and the Picola Football League, spent time as an assistant coach at Northern Bullants before former Blues’ teammate Peter Dean lured him to Murray Bushrangers as an assistant coach in 2006.
Ogier has called the Bushranger’s his football home ever since and when Murray’s premiership Phil Bunn was secured by Port Adelaide as a recruiting manager, Ogier took over as coach.
He credits a background as a physical education teacher for assisting him deal with teenagers at the pointy end of their study.
“I’ve always enjoyed the development aspect of the kids and watching them come through at the various levels,” Ogier said.
“When I was at the Bullants I dealt with a lot of kids just out of the TAC or come off AFL lists. I thought I would love to help those kids before they reached that level.”
With such a backdrop, Ogier said his primary role is to ensure the players exit the Bushrangers program, whether it was after one, two or three years, as better players than when they arrived.
Ogier said it was important to give the players every opportunity to succeed so they could progress to whatever level their game was stationed.
“That is what it’s all about individually,” Ogier said.
“Obviously, we want to be competitive as a club and if the guys are following the guidelines that are in place, hopefully they will enjoy some success as a team.”
With the Bushrangers area spreading far and wide, Ogier said he has appreciated more and more each year the sacrifice, commitment and desire country players have to be involved in the program.
He noted it was also especially true of the parents who selflessly gave up their time to ensure their boys could maximise their football talent.
“We don’t get to see the players two or three times a week as the metro clubs does. You just have to take your hat off to these kids who have to deal with the extra travel on top of their VCE studies and their football,” Ogier said.
It’s a passion that Darren Ogier can well and truly understand.
Last Modified on 07/04/2010 16:34