Legendary ruckman Bob McCallum thriving in new coaching role with Warragul Industrials

As he established himself, he decided to keep it.

And across many games since, he’s worn it with distinction in Gippy leagues. It has been as recognisable as his raking left-foot and his ruck work.

Perhaps the only drawback now is it reminds him time is staking its claim.

McCallum has turned 40, putting his age close to his jumper number.

“That’s very true,’’ he says with a laugh.

This year he’s wearing No. 44 at his new club, Warragul Industrials.

When the Dusties set out at the end of last season to find a senior coach, their wishlist contained former AFL and VFL players.

It also included McCallum, who had been playing coach of Buln Buln’s 2023-24 premiership teams in the Ellinbank and District league.

The club thought it would be a long shot, but it turned out McCallum was casting around for a new challenge after his success leading the Lyrebirds.

New Warragul Industrials president Daniel Hilton says the club was elated when it landed McCallum.

“It was massive for us,’’ he says.

“Bob’s a local legend and we thought he’d be the ideal person to lead our young players. We’ve got good Under 16s and Under 18s coming through the system and who better than Bob McCallum to guide them? Our juniors are growing significantly and the best thing you can do with them is give them great coaching. That’s why we approached Bob. When he came down here one night and said he wanted to come on board, it meant everything to us. The new president had a big smile on his face.’’

Dusties – without a senior premiership since 1996 – finished with seven wins last year.

This season they already have four.

Last Saturday they did as expected and defeated Korumburra Bena at Western Park, but not with any real authority.

McCallum was given a yellow card for striking in the third quarter and as he sat it out for 15 minutes he looked unimpressed at his team’s showing.

When the three-quarter-time siren went, Dusties supporters hurried to the huddle, expecting McCallum to deliver his first “spray’’ of the season.

But, perhaps mindful that his send-off had set no example to his players, he did not raise his voice, quietly encouraging his players to make more use of the middle of the ground.

In the end Dusties eased to a 31-point win despite kicking more points than goals.

In the previous round they had knocked over Phillip Island by six points at Cowes.

McCallum battled it out in the ruck against the Island champion and former AFL player Cam Pedersen, and both were named in the best.

It showed Hilton that McCallum would still be a fine player in the stronger West Gippsland competition.

“It was a wonderful contest between the two of them,’’ Hilton says. “The quality is still there for Bob even at age 40.’’

*****

Bobby McCallum has played more than 350 senior matches in Gippsland.

But he was a late starter to the game; through his teenage years he preferred basketball.

He made the switch of sports to play for Drouin, starting with the Thirds.

He’s certain his time on basketball courts helped his football.

“You learn spatial awareness,’’ he says. “You’re never worried about contact. You’re just watching the cuts and going in front and behind people. It becomes quite second-nature. When it comes to footy and you’ve got the ball in your hands, you tend to slow the game down, from my experience anyway.’’

In the No. 44 jumper, his senior debut at Drouin came under the coaching of “Mighty’’ Mick Fogarty, who was later to have much success at Noble Park in the Eastern league.

McCallum had to be patient; he started every game on the bench, backing up Brock Honeysett.

“I spent my first year of senior footy giving him a rest, basically,’’ he says. “And I didn’t like it.’’

He took over as No. 1 ruckman in his second season and landed his first best and fairest in his third.

McCallum went on to win six best and fairests at Drouin, as well as the 2015 Gippsland league medal. The club awarded him life membership in 2018.

He played under Fogarty for only one season but McCallum credits him with getting him going as a player.

At ruck contests, the former basketballer was avoiding contact as he tried to reach the ball at its highest point.

“Mick pulled me aside in front of the entire group and just, not ripped me apart, but said something along the lines of, ‘Get your fucking knee into him’,’’ McCallum recalls.

“I thought, ‘All right, yep’. And then my rucking took off.’’

Fogarty, now coaching Beaconsfield, has a memory of that conversation and is pleased to hear McCallum gained something from it.

In the two decades since, he’s followed his former ruckman’s career and says he’s been a wonderful player and football figure in Gippsland.

McCallum developed other, more subtle skills. He had to. He says most of his opponents were taller, stronger or could jump higher, and he was always the “underdog’’.

“It really came down to craft and finding ways to beat these guys with better attributes,’’ he says. “It was like a chess game. I’ve always loved that part of it.’’

In 2011, the 198cm McCallum had a run in the VFL for Frankston. It was a tough season for the Dolphins, winning only two matches. McCallum played 17 games and was a bright spot for coach Simon Goosey. Still, he was living in Drouin and driving to Frankston three times a week for training. The travel got to him. He bowed out after one season.

McCallum enjoyed the higher standard of football, just as he did when he played interleague. When it came to availability, his hand was always raised for rep matches, and four times he was picked to play for the Victorian Country team.

*****

Bobby McCallum stacked up individual awards at Drouin, but to his great regret, no premiership success.

It was on offer in the 2010 and ’11 grand finals but on both occasions the Ben Soumilas-coached Hawks fell short, first to Maffra and then Traralgon.

Unexpectedly, McCallum got his chance to coach the club in 2015.

He had been an assistant to leading Gippy coach Paul Alger at Buln Buln in 2013-14, winning a premiership in his second season.

McCallum headed back to Drouin to assist Clinton Proctor, who surprised the Hawks by accepting a position in Tasmania.

They asked their great ruckman to take over.

He did so for three years, lifting the team from the bottom to victory in an elimination final. The loss of city-based players in 2017 sent the Hawks tumbling down the ladder.

McCallum handed over the coaching position, but stayed at Drouin until the end of 2021.

At that time he accepted Buln Buln’s senior coaching position in the Ellinbank and District league.

Buln Buln had finished seventh in 2021. McCallum hauled the Lyrebirds straight into a grand final, losing it to Neerim South by a point, then to successive flags.

But the prospect of a third consecutive premiership held little appeal to him.

The Gap between the top and bottom sides in the Ellinbank and District league is as wide as the Strzelecki Ranges, and it became a chore for McCallum to get his team “up’’ for matches against the strugglers.

Still, it was difficult to leave.

“It was one of the hardest decisions I’ve made,’’ he says.

“I’ve mentioned to a few people, there was definitely a desire to go again and go for three. But at the same time, the way the league is at the moment, for 70 per cent of the season you’re rocking up on a Saturday knowing you’re going to win by 150 points without too much effort. Unfortunately you become pretty stale and it was forcing us to concentrate solely on the end of the year, which messes with the journey a little bit. I questioned if I could get the boys up and about again. It was hard enough doing it for the second premiership.’’

“Craving’’ a different challenge, he saw it at Warragul Industrials.

McCallum thought the Dusties were better than a seventh-placed team, he liked how they were building their under-age sides and he was taken with the idea of trying to end a 29-year premiership drought.

“You look at the list and go, ‘Well, there’s a lot to work with here, we could go quite far with this group if we could add a few extras’,’’ he says. “Also, when you go into a club that hasn’t won for a while, there’s a lot of passion there.’’

The “extras’’ included former VFL pair Goy Lok and Brenton “Mango’’ Hillard. Forward Tim Hancock crossed from Drouin and wingman Jeremy Monckton, like Hillard, from Officer.

McCallum has seen encouraging signs in the first few rounds. He would like to see more consistency.

“With a new coach and new system and five or six new guys, I kind of expected it would take some time,’’ he says.

“I’m confident we’ll produce it eventually. I’d just like it to be quicker.’’

As for his own football, he did think about how he would fare in the higher standard of West Gippy.

“Without sounding arrogant, I’ve always enjoyed and done quite well stepping up to the next level.

“I played 240-something games for Drouin in the Gippsland league. I was fortunate to play in 10 interleague games and I managed to play well in them. Although my age is creeping up, I work really hard at getting my body right.’’

It helps that he’s a myotherapist. He’s in the gym most days, “just working on longevity’’. He also knows he can get ruck support from youngsters Damian Leslie (who is on Gippsland Power’s list) and Josh Bradley (the son of prominent former state leagues and local football big man Mark “The Chief’’ Bradley).

“Experience and the brain get better with age,’’ McCallum says.

“The body declines. But I’m making it hang on!’’

In the No. 44 jumper, of course.