Cameron Carter back at helm of Blues as new coach

The Blues have appointed Cameron Carter as their new coach following the recent departures of co-coaches Adam Baird and Ben Weightman and director of coaching Darren Walsh.

Carter is a familiar name at the Blues having previously coached the club from 2005 to 2008.

Included in that four-year stint at Toolleen for Carter was back-to-back premierships in 2005 and 2006.

"I made a choice a few years ago to get out of senior coaching and focus on coaching my kids in the juniors, but an opportunity has come up that works in terms of what my kids are doing and to coach senior footy again," Carter said on Friday.

"So I thought about it for a while and decided I'd take it on; I'm looking forward to it."

Carter is in the rare position of taking on a coaching role off the back of a club winning the premiership.

Last month the Blues won their first flag since Carter led them to the 2006 premiership when they defeated Heathcote by 19 points in the grand final.

The Blues' flag was historic given it was the first time in the HDFNL's top-five era that began in 2001 that a team has come from the elimination final to win the premiership.

"Darren Walsh, Adam Baird and Ben Weightman have done a fantastic job over the past couple of years to build the club back up to being competitive again and then to play in back-to-back grand finals and win the flag this year was an amazing effort," Carter said.

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"This year will go down in folklore to come from fourth, play every week in the finals and win the flag... it's something the group will talk about for the rest of their lives.

"They are a young group with obviously a couple of very good players to replace in Adam Baird and Ben Weightman... they both leave huge holes.

"The average age of the grand final team is around 22 and that includes Pat O'Brien, who played with me in the previous flag out there back in 2006, so there's a lot of exciting young talent and a lot of familiar family names still from when I was last out there, which is nice."

As well as coaching Mount Pleasant previously, Carter also has also coached at senior level with Calivil United in the Loddon Valley league.

Along with his junior coaching in recent years, Carter has also had an involvement with the Bendigo Pioneers and AFL Central Victoria Academy.

"We are excited to have Cam back at the club to build on our momentum of the last six years and guide and develop our young list of local players to further improvement," Mount Pleasant co-president Phil Whiting said.

"There is a lot of change for us after our grand final success this year.

"This year's flag was built on the hard work and support of Darren Walsh, Adam Baird and Ben Weightman; the downside is these are massive people to lose for our club.

"However, we would prefer to focus on the upside and be thankful for what these legends of our club bought to us and how they set us up for success, which we now need to continue to build on.

"We know Cam is the man for this job at this time. He has a great footy brain, great coaching background having been involved with clubs across all three of our local footy leagues, including assistant coaching roles with Bendigo Pioneers developing young elite talent."

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