Cruncher, Casper, Captain, Coach!

Teams such as Northern Spirit and Marconi Stallions as well as a stint in Sweden where he played UEFA Cup football.
Times have changed but the pragmatic Casserly hasn?t. He is still the lad with a quiet sense of humour and an ambition burning as brightly as the day he first kicked a ball but this Telechoice Premier League season has certainly thrown up a few challenges and surprises along the way.
Although out injured from the Marconi Stallions first grade team at present he is still as active in what happens on the field, if not more so, as he now has the mantle of caretaker coach since the departure of good friend Dave Barrett from the position prior to the Sutherland Sharks home match.
?It did come as a shock that Dave departed but it was clear he wasn?t happy with the way the team was performing,? Luke states openly.
?When I was asked to take over until the end of the season I took all the guys into the dressing room and told them that if anyone thought they had an excuse for the poor results with the previous coach, that excuse was now gone and they had no-one to blame but themselves from here on in.
?That was not having a go at Dave but just a way of making it clear to everyone that they couldn?t use any excuses and had to take a good hard look at themselves if they wanted to do better than they had been performing so far this season,? says Casserly.
Indeed, when taking over the task ahead looked very daunting as the first game saw league leaders Sutherland Sharks coming to the Stallions home ground which eventually saw them win by 3-goals to nil, something anyone earlier in the season would have thought ridiculous; ?If the guys had played like they did in that match earlier in the season and put in the same effort and commitment we wouldn?t be in the position we are now.
?Mind you, how many times in football does a change like this take place and the side that is down in the dumps comes back and causes a mini upset?
?It happens all the time but next we need to face a very in-form Wollongong Wolves side who, with a catch-up game in hand being played this week, could go level with Sutherland at the top of the league if they win and that is something no-one would have predicted even two-weeks ago.
?In my first game in charge we had to face the league leaders and then possibly the joint-leaders in week two so it was never going to be an easy baptism of fire for me or the team and when I look around and see that most of them are barely 20-years old it says something about their character that they knocked over the Sharks quite convincingly in the end.?
Showing a rare glimpse of the humour he possesses he adds: ?They say lightening doesn?t strike twice but the win over the Sharks if followed by a result against the Wolves would prove that theory wrong.
?Then again, with the Pope in town you never know??..?
One game isn?t enough to judge anyone?s career either as a player or coach but maybe, just maybe we are witnessing the birth of the next great coaching thing?
-By Micky Brock