Tommy Fotak
was yesterday announced as the new coach of Southern Championship side New Town
White Eagles.
Fotak will lead the club into its 60th anniversary year alongside newly appointed senior assistant Adam Shackcloth.
A former White Eagles player, Fotak was most recently NPL coach at Hobart Zebras. He returns to football after an absence focused on family and the operation of a successful Tasmanian technology company.
White Eagles president Grant Nutting explained: “To have an individual of Tommy’s quality leading our club into its 60th season is extremely exciting. Alongside his technical attributes, Tommy brings with him great character and his appointment is significant step towards our club achieving great things in 2021 and beyond”.
Fotak said: “I am really excited by the opportunity to build on the work that Dreamer [Andrew Leszczynski] and the coaching staff have done over the past seven years.
"Performances on and off the field demonstrate this is a club on the rise and that is a credit to Grant and the committee and everyone involved at Eagles.
"I'm honoured to be entrusted with the responsibility to lead this group and the club in their anniversary year.
"I can't wait to get out on the track and get to work. I encourage anyone that wants to be part of the journey to come along and get involved however they can."
Further coaching appointments and player signings are expected to be announced in the coming weeks.
Pre-season training will begin on Tuesday, January 12th, 2021.
I spoke to Tommy today about his coaching background and the task he now faces.
Walter Pless: Which clubs have you played for?
Tommy Fotak: I played a season with Olympia in the 1994/95 summer State League, but the bulk of my years were spent playing with Eagles and Zebras.
WP: Which clubs have you coached?
TF: At senior level, Zebras and now Eagles.
WP: Have you won any trophies as a player, and as a coach?
TF: As a player, I won the premiership with Eagles in 1998, Lakoseljac Cup with Zebras in 2003, and a premiership with Zebras in 2004. These were in competitions that were considered the top flight at the time. As a coach I haven't won anything at senior level yet.
WP: Why are you coming back to coaching?
TF: I've always enjoyed coaching and wanted to get back involved at some stage. I see it as a way of contributing to community. For football to be played competitively, we need coaches, referees, committees and match-day helpers, as well as players. Coaching is my preferred way of being involved. It also engages my competitive appetite! Timing is a big factor. I was thinking about what I would like to do if I could retire tomorrow and, no joke, what came to mind in terms of keeping me mentally active was coaching and keeping bees. No time is ever perfect and I realised that I could do one of those things now, so why not? I had really good conversations with Eagles and they understood my concerns about my time commitments with football, my business and my personal life and they were incredibly open about working with me to manage all that to try to ensure that we all get good outcomes.
WP: What will your coaching philosophy be?
TF: I went back and re-read my Coaching Manifesto I put together in 2013 when I first got involved in coaching at senior level. It was a good reminder of the ideals I have when it comes to coaching and the expectations I have of myself and any group of players that I work with. From a playing perspective, I prefer possession-based attacking football, but who doesn't? I love tempo football, being able to take your foot off the gas, be composed, but when the moment is right, really apply pressure and intensity for sustained periods. From a practical point of view, I want players and supporters of the club to be able to objectively see that the team and individuals - including myself - are continually improving, that we are always moving forward, not necessarily in a straight line, but forward nonetheless.
WP: What do you hope to achieve at Eagles?
TF: Ultimately, the title and promotion. That's what is being asked of me and it's a fair challenge, and that's what I've joined to do. That will be based on hard work and continual improvement. If we don't win the title but we have improved by certain metrics, like total points or goal difference, then that is progress.
WP: Why did you choose to go to a second-tier side?
TF: In this case, the challenge of promotion is a reason, but for me, it's not really about tiers. It's about where I think I can do my best work, where I think I fit and add value and where I think a club sees value in my efforts. A big factor was the conversations we had around my time commitments in other facets of my life and how we can manage that as a club and coaching group. Grant [Nutting] and the Eagles committee were really understanding and supportive and we all believe we have a setup where I can do my best work and deliver really good outcomes for the club.
WP: How do to rate Tasmanian football at present?
TF: This is a really nuanced question and any answer really depends on your perspective. The game has tens of thousands of stakeholders and they each have different perspectives. My daughter plays AFL and I would say that at a grassroots level football is streets ahead of AFL. Our challenge is to turn those fields of grass into forests of trees, if I may wax philosophical for a moment. Pragmatically, the game faces all the same challenges that other sports in this State face and I don't think we are doing any worse or better than them. From my personal perspective, I think as a whole, it is in a transitional period and has been for some time. This is not a criticism of any people in the game It is due to societal changes that have occurred over the last twenty years. To move out of that transition we need to look at our strengths as a sport and as a community and island State and aim for a future built on the unique value those vectors combined bring. This is far easier to say sitting here than it is to achieve in reality. Call me a starry-eyed optimist, but I do think it is achievable.
