"It was a sad day for such a proud club. Such a good catchment area. Things got out of hand."
When things get out of hand for a Shute Shield side,Coleman is the man club boards come chasing.
Coleman had coached at the Brumbies and won premierships with Warringah but when a job in Global Rapid Rugby fell through in 2018,Coleman became priority number one for new Gordon president Matt Glascott.
And little wonder why. Two years after Coleman arrived at Chatswood Oval,Gordon are now on the precipice of one of the most remarkable revivals in Australian club rugby history.
Having won just a single game from 19 starts in 2018 – to minnows Penrith – Gordon climbed back to almost make the finals in 2019,and this year they've been the best team in the competition. In a shortened season,Coleman's Highlanders have only lost one game.
That's probably of little surprise,given Wallabies loose forward Jack Dempsey can see plenty of former Australian coach Michael Cheika in Coleman.
"I haven’t known DC til this year but I’ve heard a lot about him from guys who played with him at the Eagles or Easts or Rats. He’s a very intense character,"Dempsey said.
Minor premiers Gordon progressed past Randwick in the quarter-finals.Credit:Karen Watson
"Nothing has really changed this week. He’s turned the dial up a few more notches. He reminds me of Cheik in a lot of ways because he likes to control everything – the players,staff,the programs,he’s got a lot of fingers in a lot of pies.
"He’s been on this stage before with the Rats and he knows what it takes to win big games."
The club's revival is extra sweet given the negative publicity that surrounded their dark days. After those repeated drubbings in 2018,Alan Jones wrote a national newspaper column pointing to Gordon's demise as emblematic of the sorry state of Australian rugby. The senior club in one of Australian rugby's best catchment areas could barely field a team worthy of first grade. That's what Coleman saw when he arrived ahead of the 2019 season.
"Year on year,they would lose more and more players and to be honest,everyone was up a grade or two from where they should be,"he said.
Gordon's head coach Darren Coleman and captain Jordan Goddard at Leichhardt Oval.Credit:Karen Watson
"We did a little bit of recruitment in the first year because we had a lot of third graders playing second grade and first grade. Once we got players back into the grade we were more suited to,everything clicked."
Coleman has dragged Gordon from the doldrums to a club championship. With a simpler,club-wide gamestyle,the more-common succcess enjoyed by the Highlanders at colts level has now translated to senior grades as well.
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Coleman found great results in moulding together a mix of old and new faces at the club.
Former Rats hooker and future Super Rugby prospect Mahe Vailanu has been outstanding,and Coleman has also generated career-best form out of former Waratahs,Rebels and Aussie sevens halfback Harrison Goddard. Goddard's brother Jordan is the team's captain.
Coleman has a theory that the best teams have brothers in them,and the Goddards aren't even his only set. Robbie Abel and Charlie Abel are also in Gordon's first-grade line-up.
The final will be Coleman's last match before taking charge of the LA Giltinis but if he can take his team from worst to first inside two seasons – and snap a 22-year premiership drought – it's fair to say he'll be welcome back for at every club reunion.
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