GSFL 2024: North Albany and Mt Barker reinstate Brad Bootsma and Brad Hook as coaches for upcoming season

After two massive changes to the Great Southern Football League coaching demographic last week, Mt Barker and North Albany have backed in their current senior coaches for the upcoming season. Brad Hook and Brad Bootsma will resume their roles at the helm of the Bulls and Kangas respectively heading into the 2024 season. Hook will again be joined by his assistant Gary Pope, as the pair will look to build on their end to the 2023 season where the Bulls won their last four home and away games, including a 43-point triumph over the eventual premiers Albany. Hook, who had a previous stint as the Bulls’ league coach, was appointed senior coach last year on the cusp of the season after the unexpected departure of David Johnson. The Bulls will be eager to recapture their 2022 form where they made the preliminary final from second spot on the ladder. The Kangas faced challenging times in the last two seasons since Bootma’s return to the club, finishing second last on the ladder on both occasions. Bootsma’s side managed just two wins in 2022 but improved to three in 2023 and will look to keep maintaining their development next year. A highly credentialed coach, Bootsma was appointed for the 2022 season after the Kangas missed finals for the first time in more than a decade in 2021. Before his reappointment, Bootsma was a key part of the Kangas’ dominant period in the 2000s, winning four straight league flags from 2005-2008, and he was a player-coach in two of those. Denmark-Walpole remains the only side who are yet to announce their league coach for the 2024 season.