After one game as Oakleigh coach last week, Arthur Papas had won as many matches as Miron Bleiberg did all season.
If there’s another victory tonight, it will also see the new manager surpass his predecessor’s entire 2015 points tally, such was Oakleigh’s tough start to the season.
It’s for that reason – along with Bleiberg’s departure for claimed personal and business issues – the former Dempo FC coach says he has offered a helping hand to his former club.
“I had come back with the hope of taking an extended break from coaching, but I received a call from Miron Bleiberg and the board, stating for personal reasons why Miron wasn’t able to continue,” he said.
“[That’s why] I was comfortable to take it on. If it was for the opposite reason, if Miron was sacked, I probably would not have been favourable about it, because I had a good relationship with him.
“It really was to help him and the club out again, just sooner than I thought.
The 2011 coach of the year, who took the Cannons all the way to the grand final, will be lumped with the task of shaking off the club’s underperforming tag.
However, the favourite son at Jack Edwards Reserve believes his challenge will be made easier by the support the club is showing him now, and has shown in the past.
“It means a lot, because there is a thing called loyalty in football,” he said.
“Obviously they were the ones who took the leap of faith in me at age 30 to give me a chance, that meant a lot to me.
“I obviously had to prove myself, and I still always have to prove myself, but its something I’m more willing to get involved in because of respect for them as well.”
The 35-year-old comes into the role without a significant burden of expectation, with the club seemingly putting on hold any league silverware objectives this season, giving the coach time to work his side away from the wrong end of the ladder.
Papas says he won’t be making any immediate wholesale changes already, satisfied with the squad he has to work with.
“Still too early if I’m honest, we’ve only spoken about one game, we haven’t spoken about what happens in three or four weeks’ time,” he said.
“The plan is to make a collective effort as a group to turn things around and turn them around quickly.
“It’s really simple and I explained this to the boys, if you’re eight games in with one win you shouldn’t be thinking about finals or being near the top, you have to make sure you make the distance from the bottom group.
“It’s only the start, we’ve got a lot of work to do.”
Image Credit: Anita Milas/ Victorypix
Interview Credit: Tonci Prusac