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TOM CORLESS BRINGS WEALTH OF EXPERIENCE TO THE PIES

The Western Magpies have made a significant appointment to its coaching ranks with the appointment of Tom Corless to an Assistant-Coach position. Corless will look after the senior rotations on match day but his major role is as a development coach and player welfare manager.

Tom is actively spending time with individual players getting to know their background, personality and ambitions. He sees his role as helping players develop to be not only  the best footballers they can be but also to be simply good people. He will discuss goal setting for each player and in this process will also enhance each player's leadership development.

Corless is an experienced member of Queensland football, with over 200 matches as a player and over 300 matches as a coach under his belt. He brings a wealth of experience both as a coach but also in player development, all roles he has enjoyed at a number of Brisbane clubs. Commencing his playing career with Yeronga (then South Brisbane) in 1977 when he was 6 years old, Corless progressed to playing Seniors at Yeronga in 1998 as a 17 year old. He then joined Coorparoo full-time and played QAFL Seniors there from 1990-93. He was initially a midfielder at Yeronga but at Coorparoo played mostly in the backline before a late switch to the forward line. In the old jargon Corless was called a “utility”.

Corless played his 202 senior matches for Yeronga from 1988 to 2002, winning the club best and fairest award in 1994 and 2001. He coached his beloved Devils for a total of 10 seasons, the first in 1997-99 as a playing-coach and then for a stint of 7 years from 2002-2008, with 2002 his last year of playing before taking on a non-playing coach’s role. Not yet finished, he then took on the mantle of coaching coordinator for a further 2 years in 2009-10.  He coached Yeronga to AFL South QLD Division 1 premierships in 2006 and 2007.

As if being a senior coach of a football club wasn’t enough, he also worked in an the AFL Development program and coached across  Under 14s, 16s and 18s at the Western Taipans for 6 years from 2000-2005.

After he had finished coaching at Yeronga, in 2011 Tom put his hand up to coach Kenmore, which had finished last the previous year. He helped lift them in his first year then took the Bears to a preliminary final in his second season in charge.

Corless has a track record of embracing a challenge most recently i in 2015 he was coaxed into coaching Beenleigh, which had  finished 2014 with just one win.  Beenleigh  hada tough year the previous season and were going through merger talks at the time. In the second season they won 9 out of their our last 11 games to play finals and move up a division. Tom obviously has the ability to connect with players and lift them to higher levels. As he said when he took on the Beenleigh job: ‘I’m not here to recruit. I’m here to educate the players we’ve already got. If a player who fits the mould comes up, then that’s good. Coaching is about guiding, teaching and mentoring.”

In 2017 he decided to get back into a higher level of football and joined Sandgate as a Senior Assistant Coach (senior midfield) and also stepped into the role of Reserves Coach. 

He has joined the Western Magpies as the Pies are a bit closer to home and he is  excited what he sees building at the Magpies--a young team with a few hard heads is just what he sees as the foundation of a strong club ready to take the next step in the top level of the AFLQ.

To say Tom is a “football man”  is an understatement and his vast experience in playing, coaching and in a development role will be invaluable for the Pies who have a young list that will benefit from Tom’s guidance and football nous.

The following was posted on the AFLQ website when he took on the Beenleigh coaching position. It is a philosophy that will also apply to the Western Magpies and with Tom on board the pies have a strong addition to their coaching ranks.

Posted on AFLQ Website on Tuesday, 16th December, 2014

New Beenleigh coach, Tom Corless, says he is a problem solver and it is that mentality upon which he will approach the Buffaloes’ 2015 season.

Corless, who has previously coached at Yeronga, Kenmore and regional talent teams, said there would be some key problems to solve from day one.

“District football coaching is all about problem solving,” he said.

“Why do players keep on moving, how do we solve that? How do we attract players to the club and how do we get more juniors to play through to seniors.”

“I want players wanting to play for Beenleigh and provide them with a good training program.”

With a number of other football clubs nearby, Corless said it was imperative to strengthen the retention of players at Beenleigh.

“If we do it properly, we should have kids who want to play and more senior players who want to play for us,” he said.

“We really want to nurture the kids in our own backyard.”

Corless said he would be handing a lot of ownership to the players as the young group prepares for 2015.

“’if they sit back and take a “poor me” attitude and don’t want to solve problems (that won’t work),”he said.

“We’ve got to create an atmosphere where we’re doing things for the right reasons and be accountable…and it’s pretty simple.

“We want a plying group that knows what it’s about.”