By David Nagel
“Leaving things in a better place than what you found them.”
It’s a simple saying, but one that sums up perfectly the three year, 52-game tenure of Harmit Singh, who coached his last game for Warragul Industrials on Sunday in the WGFNC first semi-final loss to Nar Nar Goon.
The Dusties, from a football perspective…were not in a good place when Singh found them or, more precisely, when the club found him.
Their first season in the WGFNC, in 2019, reaped the modest return of two wins from 18 outings, a percentage of 42.75, and concerns from many that the leap from the Ellinbank league had been too steep.
Singh was appointed by Dusties Football Manager Nick Gooden during Covid, at the top of a wish list that even Santa Claus might not be capable of delivering.
But the Dusties got their man…a two-time premiership coach at Morwell (2013, ‘14) and fresh off back-to-back flags with Eastern Football League powerhouse Vermont (2018, ’19).
In his first season at Western Park in 2021, Singh found the club with no thirds and no fourths – a football disaster in the making.
Despite this, he led the Dusties to a 5-6 record in a Covid-reduced season.
The Dusties had fourths, but no thirds, in 2022, and finished sixth on the ladder before defeating Inverloch-Kongwak and Cora Lynn in finals…and falling a solitary point short in an extra-time preliminary final classic against Phillip Island.
This year the Dusties finished sixth again, rolling reigning premier Tooradin-Dalmore in the elimination final before falling to an impressive Goon outfit on the weekend.
Singh finishes his time at the club with a 29-win, 23-loss record…but his impact is far greater than that.
Harmit Singh is leaving the Dusties in a much better place than what he found them!
The Dusties have thirds and fourths this year, both playing finals, with five players coming through the program – which Singh built – to play senior football in 2023.
Thomas Cornwall, Will Grummisch, Noah Rogers, Cody Templeton and Alix Tauru are all names to keep an eye on in the future, among many others.
“It’s easy to look short term, but my view has always been, let’s get the 16s and 18s up, and make sure they’re strong, and support that, and underpinning that with some really smart recruiting, because we were so limited with our player points, having no home grown players or kids coming through,” Singh explained.
“Now 16s and 18s play finals, reserves just miss, and I can’t ask for anything more than what I got from my players.
“I couldn’t be prouder of our efforts and I’m looking forward to watching these kids come through over the next few years.”
Singh said his time at the Dusties had been chalk and cheese to his previous assignment.
“Coming from one of the biggest local clubs in Melbourne, even Australia, in Vermont, and then coming to the Dusties and trying to build from the ground up was a great challenge and one I’ve enjoyed immensely,” he said.
“As nice at it’s been to have premiership success at other clubs, it’s been nice to come here and build a program…and to work bloody hard to get there.
“This club is a lot closer to where it wants to be as a senior footy club right now.
“And the experience has really helped with my coaching development as well.”
Singh currently has roles at Collingwood, being Head of Academies and Peter Daicos Academy, and is an assistant-coach with the VFL team.
The four-time premiership coach leaves Western Park a satisfied man.
“We’ve had a couple of full seasons together, and to play finals both years, on the back of being wooden spooners, has been a pleasing result with really no external recruits coming to the club this year,” Singh said.
“It was essentially the same list, the list got a year older, so we’ve done pretty well I think.
“Unfortunately we weren’t able to get to that prelim or grand final this year, but it’s just the friendships that you make and hopefully I earned the respect of our club with my effort and wholistic view of our footy club.
“I think we extracted everything we could from the list.”
