From NT News – June 3, 2015

NTFL club Palmerston will have joint senior coaches in the 2015-16 NTFL season after yesterday’s dual appointment of Alwyn “Froggy’’ Davey and Shaun Cusack to the position.

Davey, a 100-game player with AFL club Essendon, continues a long family tradition at the Magpies with his first coaching role, while Cusack assumes his first full-time position with an NTFL club.

“Dad (Alwyn Sr) played here in the 1970s and ‘80s and all three (sons) in myself, Aaron and Russell are part of the club, so something I’ve always wanted to do is coach this great club,’’ Davey said.

“Recruit wise I reckon we’ll stick to last season’s playing list and maybe get a couple more in, but it’s only early so we’ll have a good look at where we’re going first.’’

Cusack, the inaugural coach of the Central Australia Redtails in a series of NTFL trial matches, is rapt the Magpies have given him a chance to coach at senior level in Darwin after stints with CAFL club South Alice Springs and the Redtails.

“I’ll be running the off-field stuff while Frog’s on the field doing what he does best,’’ Cusack said. “He’s a very good player and we want him out there concentrating on his role and performing the way we know he can.

“It’s also important we feed off each other and are totally aware of what’s going on when matchday comes around and that we’ve done the right homework on the opposition.’’

Magpie president Shannon Masters dismissed any connection with the Russell Jeffrey-Michael McLean joint role from three seasons ago.

“It’s a different scenario this time with Froggy still playing,’’ he said. “This time one of the coaches is out on the ground and the other one is controlling things off-field, so I think that will be really good for our club.

“It’s going to be a two-man job to cover the development of all our coaches anyway, especially when we’ll probably have 14 teams next season.

“For us it’s just not what’s going on in the Premier League, it’s what’s going on all the way down to the under-12s.

“There’s no time line here, for us it’s a long term thing and we’ve said we have faith in these guys and we know the task in front of them is going to be a big one.’’