AFL Cairns umpires manager Rowan Tattersall is a man who could never be accused of resting on his laurels.
Tattersall recently spent three days in Melbourne learning and gaining experience from AFL Victoria’s umpiring department.
AFL Victoria’s Cameron Nash, their state league umpiring head coach, and umpiring development manager Neville Nash brought Tattersall into their inner sanctum to help develop training structures, procedures, recruitment and coaching tools in AFL Cairns.
Tattersall believes he will be able to bring plenty of new knowledge and perspective from being around VFL and TAC Cup umpires.
“As an umpires’ group we are always looking at ways to improve and upskill,” Tattersall said.
“For our AFL Cairns umpiring group to upskill, then I need to upskill myself and be able to pass that on to them.
“Hopefully I can pass this on to the umpires we have in Cairns now and finetune a few things I am already doing.”
AFL Victoria has about 120 field umpires on its current list, with the VFL the final stepping stone for umpires before they get their opportunity in the AFL.
“The VFL is a massive step up from where we are in Cairns,” Tattersall said.
“These umpires are gunning for AFL spots so, to be around them, I think we can take lots of experience back to the AFL Cairns competition.”
AFL Cairns is always looking for more umpires.
If you are interested, contact rowan@aflcairns.com.au
