GOLD Coast is the latest club to change VFL coaches after up-and-coming young mentor Jackson Kornberg was plucked from the Sandringham Dragons last week.
Kornberg, 28, stepped into the plumb role at the NAB League club this season, leading the development competition powerhouse to the top of the ladder with an 8-1 record.
Under his watch, the Dragons had both their leading ruckmen taken by AFL clubs in the NAB AFL Mid-Season Draft – Jacob Edwards by North Melbourne at No.1 and Max Heath by St Kilda at No.7 – while AFL.com.au’s Callum Twomey named Finn Callaghan, Josh Sinn, Campbell Chesser, Blake Howes, Marcus Windhager and Mitchito Owens in the top 30 NAB AFL Draft prospects in his highly-rated October Phantom Draft.
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Kornberg has spent more than a decade at the Dragons, starting with the under-14s and 15s as a teenager and has worked his way up through the ranks, working as an assistant coach with those teams while also spending time in charge of the midfield and forwards with the under-18s.
He coached the under-16s in his own right in 2019-20 before landing the under-18s boys and girls coaching role this year when Josh Bourke was unable to commit to taking on the job full-time.
He was an assistant coach of the Victoria Metro under-15 girls team that won the national championships in 2015 before spending 2017-18 with Carlton’s AFLW team and 2019 with North Melbourne in addition to his roles with the Dragons.
Kornberg replaces Tate Kaesler, who has been promoted into the AFL assistant coaching role of team defence and strategy, as Gold Coast’s VFL coach.
“Jackson has fantastic experience in development coaching which will be a large part of his new role with the club as he coaches our VFL team,” Suns general manager of football performance Wayne Campbell told goldcoastfc.com.au.
“We were really impressed by his ability to build relationships, his technical capability and his desire to work, learn and grow.
“Jackson’s appointment finalises our coaching group for 2022 and we are really pleased with the experienced and diverse group of coaches that will be responsible for developing our young talented list.”
Twitter: @BRhodesVFL