Paul Barnard inks a two-year coaching extension at Tatura Football Netball Club, keeping him at the Kennel until 2026

Barnard first signed up ahead of the 2023 Goulburn Valley League season, dragging Tatura up three places from its 2022 position in a campaign that boded even more promise for 2024.

However, with injury razing the Bulldogs’ list and having them collect one win from 14 outings, Barnard isn’t content with leaving things where they lie.

“Year one was a bit of a step change for us; there was a lot of improvement and nearly double the amount of wins we’d had, and we were advancing our development,” he said.

“But then to cop a horrendous injury year like we’ve had robbed me of a year to bring the club on a little bit.

“We still think that there’s a huge improvement not only on the list but also as a football program and it’s sort of unfinished business for mine.”

Injury woes and tough losses aside, Barnard admitted he had thoroughly enjoyed his term at Tatura — and he wants the good times to keep on rolling.

The Essendon premiership player gave the club a glowing review, even saying it was a “no-brainer” to extend his stay at Tatura Park.

“I just really enjoy the club; they’re great people, it’s a great structure with facilities, but more importantly the people in the club,” he said.

“It was more about the people to be fair because it’s just a terrific club.

“We just need to fix up some areas in the footy program, catch a break with the injury perspective and we think there’s lots of blue sky ahead.

“It was pretty much a no-brainer for mine and I’m really pleased and honoured to get an extension, because as I said, I think there’s a lot of blue sky ahead for Tatura Football Netball Club.”

Skies weren’t exactly blue for the Bulldogs in the most recent GVL round.

Tatura had just copped a 195-point loss to Seymour, 13 weeks after beating the Lions in round one of the season.

Coincidentally, that was also Barnard’s most recent win as coach.

However, understanding the club's situation and approaching it pragmatically as Barnard does is likely why the club has placed two more years of faith in him.

“There’s been a whole gamut of experience this year; we had a really poor day last week against Seymour,” he said.

“If you look at the contrast of beating them in round one and 13 weeks later we’re copping a hiding like we did, but that’s only because of the people and resources we haven’t got in relation to players.

“We think our best is good enough when we get all our players on the deck, but we just haven’t had enough to see it.

“(There’s) plenty to play for, plenty of little internal goals we want to achieve and then we’ll turn the page and rip into 2025.”

Four rounds remain in 2024, but for Barnard, it’s about minutes in the legs for his younger brigade.

He indicated the fact that some players who, if not for the club’s injury crisis, may not have featured much this campaign will return for pre-season preparation with 15 senior GVL games under their belt.

And to Barnard, that’s worth its weight in gold.

“We are very, very bullish about what we can achieve next year if we can catch a break from an injury management perspective, and there’s also going to be some new faces in there as well,” he said.

“We hope that we get to that point next year and we can compete heavily and really show the GVL what we can do as a club and also as a football program.

“I’m really excited, I know the club’s excited, I know the players are excited so we just keep walking forward.”