Tarryn Thomas has made a seamless transition to North Melbourne from North Launceston, and now his former coach is following in his footsteps.
Taylor Whitford arrived at Arden St earlier in the week, keen to soak up some AFL expertise and further develop his football knowledge.
Whitford spent three days at the club, and was blown away by Thomas's growth as a person and player.
“It's a pretty big move for Tarryn from Launceston to Melbourne,” Whitford told North Media.
“Coming to an AFL environment where its footy all the time and pretty full on , it’s been great to see his growth.
“Tarryn came home over at Christmas and I did some stuff with him, and he’d only been at North for about three months and his growth over that period was immense.
“I’m really keen to watch him grow as a person and as a player.”
A player/coach in the Tasmanian State League, Whitford shared premiership success last season with Thomas, and now wants to learn more about the AFL landscape.
“I didn’t want to come in and make wholesale changes to what I do, it’s just picking up little things along the way that I can add to either the way I teach my guys back home,” he said.
Spending time looking at the Kangaroos' AFL and VFL programs, Whitford said he was most interested in player development.
“This isn’t so much about game-plan or game-style, it’s just the way North goes about development and the learning environment with video and editing and how the coaches show that to the players,” he said.
