Falcons great Harris feeling at home at Tigerland alreadyThursday, March 23, 2017 - 1:26 PM - by Chris Pike

AS a great of the West Perth Football Club, Darren Harris was unsure about coaching another WAFL club before accepting the role at Claremont but he already feels at home with the Tigers.

Harris arrived at West Perth in 1992 from the Wodonga Bulldogs in the Ovens & Murray Football League and made an immediate, and lasting impact.

He went on to play 109 games with the Falcons over the next five seasons and in 1995, he had a year that only dreams are made of. 

Young talent at Tigerland leaves Harris excited on WAFL return 

Harris captained West Perth to the premiership, won the Simpson Medal and went on to win the Breckler Medal as fairest and best in a season that will live in folklore.

He left West Perth at the end of 1996 to return to Wodonga, this time as playing-coach with crosstown rivals the Raiders where he remained for three years including a premiership in 1998.

It was then on to the NSW/ACT Rams in the TAC Cup in an assistant and development coaching role before West Perth again came calling.

Harris returned to the Falcons to coach ahead of the 2002 season taking them to consecutive grand finals in his first two years culminating in the premiership of 2003.

He remained at the helm until the end of 2005 when he moved into the AFL firstly with the West Coast Eagles and then Carlton before returning to Perth in 2013.

Harris was working with Leading Teams and kept involved in football coaching his son's junior team, while having a small role at South Fremantle in 2015 and then coaching the WAFL State team the last two years to wins over South Australia and Tasmania.

But the pull was always there to coach his own team in the WAFL.

While Harris pictured that always being West Perth, he felt it was now or never at the end of 2016 to put his hat back in the ring or risk it being too late.

With West Perth happy with the club's longest-serving coach Bill Monaghan, that meant that if Harris wanted to coach in the WAFL again he had to get his head around doing it somewhere other than the Falcons.

He admits that wasn’t easy to accept at first, but the more he thought about the more he felt he could do it. Then with Claremont's position available, he signalled his interest and six months later and one round, and a win, into the 2017 season, he couldn’t be happier.

"It wasn’t an easy thing, it really wasn’t and it was a big part of my decision. When I came back four years ago I had the thought that I wanted to coach West Perth again one day, and that's what I wanted to do," Harris told wafl.com.au.

"It was a really big decision to go to another club and it really didn’t sit well with me for a couple of months there. But it's quite amazing that once you get into a club and you get to know the people. Now I feel like a Claremont person.

"It's quite interesting that right here, right now that's my club and I'm loving being there. I didn’t expect to feel this way because of my connection to West Perth over a long period of time, but I'll never forget those times.

"The era I was involved in and those people I was involved with in that time will always be my great mates and people I respect because we did some special things together. That can never get taken away and now it's another era for me at Claremont."

Harris last coached his own team at the Northern Bullants in 2012 while still at Carlton, but since returning to Perth he never felt like he had the time to commit fully to coaching in the WAFL.

He always wanted to do it again at some point and felt this was the perfect time and the Claremont role just happened to be available.

"I've always seen myself as a coach and I was waiting around for a while to make sure that the timing was right when I get back involved," he said.

"Then you get to the stage of being out of the system full-time for four years even though I coached the state team which isn’t a massive commitment, and you wonder how long is too long.

"I will never regret coaching my son's team but I was waiting for the time to be right to get back involved and I felt if I waited much longer there was the risk of it passing me by. The timing's right now and I am enjoying it so far."

Going right back to being a player in Wodonga, Bendigo, West Perth and back in Wodonga before coaching at the NSW/ACT Rams, Falcons, West Coast, Carlton and the Northern Bullants, being involved in a football club is something that Harris grew accustomed to.

That's why the last four years since returning to Perth has been a little strange for him and the urge was growing to get back involved. 

With the combination of his children growing up and his 15-year-old son perhaps benefitting from a fresh voice as his coach, and his wife's studies now being complete, everything fell into place nicely.

"I reckon I've always felt a little isolated not being involved in a footy club, I've always loved being around one. I have coached my son for six years now in his footy career and he is 15, and I reckon he needs another voice and a different person to coach him," Harris said.

"To have a third-party influence with a different coach will be very good for his development. My daughter has now finished high school and then my other son is 13, so it's almost like the time was right for me to take on this opportunity.

"My wife has finished her studies as a psychologist and she's starting to do some work now, and more work. The timing of everything just came together nicely and the Claremont job became available, and after two months of thinking about it I threw my hat in the ring and I'm really happy with the decision."

Harris feels a different coach than the one at West Perth 15 years ago as well. The biggest difference is being more willing to delegate and empower his assistant coaches to take on bigger roles.

That's helped with the quality people he has surround himself with.

"I've probably got a different approach than what I had when I was a younger coach and in my 20 years, I've had nine or 10 of them as a head coach and nine or 10 as an assistant coach," he said.

"To lead your own side is a great thing and I'm really enjoying being back in it and when you bring along quality people like Geoff Valentine, Steve Trewhella, Craig Bolton, Andrew Embley, Damien Condon, Craig White and Kepler Bradley is still here, you have a great group of people to work with.