Checkside Chats with Darren Reeves and Caitlen Teague

By ZAC MILBANK

Who said the coaching caper wasn’t easy?

Glenelg coach Darren Reeves knows it is much more difficult than it appears after guiding his Tigers into top spot with an eight-game winning streak in his first season at Brighton Road.

Appointed just before Christmas Day, Reeves has transitioned seamlessly into the role of a SANFL head coach after earning his stripes in unconventional fashion.

The 47-year-old tells Checkside Chats of his journey as a budding Test cricketer from the Blue Mountains of NSW to where he has landed today, holding mentors and fellow coaches Trevor Bayliss and Roy Laird in high esteem.

In a major change of pace, Central District Grand Final hero Caitlen Teague comes into the studio to relive her magic moment, kicking the winning goal in the SANFLW title-decider with less than 20 seconds on the clock.

After an initial interruption from Mum, the bubbly Bulldogs utility reveals she ”probably” shouldn’t have been in the forward 50m arc in the last minute of the match.

Having notched her 50th Hostplus SANFLW League game this year, the 25-year-old has been a major driver in the Dogs’ rise to premiers, a journey she has thoroughly enjoyed.

Football has also been an important outlet for Teague, who experiences a wide array of emotions daily in her job at the Animal Welfare League.