And then there were three

By Marc McGowan
FORMER Dandenong and Carlton forward Rohan Welsh is the latest name to emerge in the Casey Scorpions’ ongoing coaching race.
Welsh coached the Oakleigh Chargers to the TAC Cup premiership in 2006 and was honoured by being named coach of the year at that level in the same season.
Peter Banfield, who guided the Scorpions to their first Victorian Football League (VFL) finals appearance in four seasons this year, resigned in September, but the decision on the new coach could now drag into the first week of November.
Sources have revealed that the final three candidates for the position are Welsh, Austinn Jones and Tony Liberatore.
They will all be interviewed this week.
Jones is in contention after failing to agree to terms with TAC Cup side the Sandringham Dragons.
The Scorpions have hit several snags in the last week, with applicants Ashley Prescott and Adrian Fletcher pulling out.
It is believed that former Geelong, St Kilda, Brisbane and Fremantle player Fletcher was offered the job, but knocked it back to become the midfield coach at Brisbane.
Prescott accepted an assistant coaching position with Essendon.
Casey general manager Brian Woodman said this trend was causing problems for all Victorian Football League (VFL) clubs.
“AFL clubs this year have certainly improved their development teams and that’s provided a bit more of a drain on potential VFL coaches,” he said.
“We are keen to make the appointment, but we want to go through the right process. It will definitely be wrapped up in early November.”
The exit of decade-long servants Steven Harrison and Nigel Carmody from the Scorpions were also confirmed this week.
Five-time Gardner-Clark Medallist Harrison will be the playing coach for Chelsea in the MPNFL Peninsula league, while Carmody, who finished runner-up in the Gardner-Clark medal in each of the past two seasons, is going to pull on the boots for Collingwood’s new stand-alone VFL team.
“It is an exciting opportunity for me to develop my skills as a player and I want to be a coach one day,” Carmody said.
“To have the captaincy this year and lead the side to the finals was very pleasing, and to have played 100-plus senior VFL games for one club is an achievement I’m very proud of.”
The Scorpions are already chasing recent AFL delistees and have targeted former Gippsland Power products Craig Flint and Ben Hughes from Carlton and the Kangaroos respectively.
St Kilda discards Barry Brooks, Justin Sweeney, Fergus Watts, James Wall and Phil Raymond, as well as retiree Brett Voss, are all in Casey’s sights.