The Canberra Demons have announced Queanbeyan Tigers player-coach Kade Klemke will take the NEAFL club's coaching reins for the next two seasons. Two-time AFL Canberra premiership winner Klemke is intent on building a successful club at the Demons after they won just three games in 2016.
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"I honestly don't think it's a lot different to what Queanbeyan was the last couple of years," Klemke said.
"We've got a lot of young guys and I'll be looking to do the same thing with the Canberra Demons – really develop those young guys but also bring in experience which we had this year which really helped our guys."
Klemke said he'll be making "plenty of phone calls" in a bid to snare some of AFL Canberra's best talent to bulk up the side's roster.
"Mix them with the young guys you already have, there's no reason why Canberra Demons couldn't be a successful club and be playing finals footy next year," he said. "There's no guarantee they'll all come on board, but I'll be trying hard. I want to build a successful representative team – I know there's been rivalries, and I want to break that down."
Klemke will scour the nation's state leagues – VFL, SANFL and WAFL – with a number of southern NSW players playing at that level.
He admits telling his Tigers teammates of his decision "wasn't easy."
"I love Queanbeyan, so very hard to tell them that you're going when you've been a part of the club for five years now," Klemke said.
"They've played a massive part in my development as a coach. It's really sad to leave."
Meanwhile, AFL Canberra's best and fairest winner James Bennett will take on a player-coach role at the Belconnen Magpies.
"The position became open and I just put my hand up to take the job, and the club was happy to get behind me and support me in that," Bennett said.
"At the end of a long footy season the last thing you want to be thinking about is next year straight away. So we'll all have a bit of a break and then have a chat about what that looks like and how he wants to be involved."
Bennett won the NEAFL Eastern Conference's best and fairest in 2013 and said it would be great to see local juniors graduate to that level under Klemke.
