He was a key figure during Berkeley Sport's golden era of football, and Glenn Dorrian hopes to guide the Goats towards further success as he returns to his beloved club.
Berkeley on Tuesday unveiled Dorrian as their new head coach for the 2024 District League season after previous co-mentors Chris Lazarevski and Nick Purdevski stepped down from the role.
Dorrian is no stranger to the club, having enjoyed plenty of success as a player there during the mid to late-2000s. Highlights included winning the 2006 Golden Boot award, while Berkeley won several championships and grand finals during this period.
Since hanging up the boots, Dorrian became interested in the coaching side of football, including coaching Balgownie's District League side in 2021 and 2022.
After taking a gap year, he will now pick up the reins at the Goats, who are looking to build on a solid 2023 campaign. Berkeley finished the regular season in fourth place before being knocked out in the first week of finals, falling 2-0 to Gerringong.
"The opportunity came across pretty quickly to me," Dorrian told the Mercury.
"But it didn't take me long to think about it because I've got some good memories of being there as a player and the club did well this year, - they were leading the comp for a while there - so it's a pretty exciting time to get back involved."
While it's still only October, Berkeley have wasted no time being active in the player market this off-season.
The Goats' new recruit include former Balgownie and University of Wollongong player Brendan Wyatt, ex-Bally talent Damien Bedwell and Kane Dorrian from Premier League club Tarrawanna.
"We'll have some others, but they're ones that we can announce for now," Glenn Dorrian said.
"There's a good base of a young, keen squad and we've got some new signings that are keen to join, so it's a pretty exciting looking period ahead."
Reading this on mobile web? Download our news app. It's faster, easier to read and we'll send you alerts for breaking news as it happens. Download in the Apple Store or Google Play.
Joshua Bartlett
A sporting fanatic who is keen to promote all codes in the Illawarra and abroad. Mercury's chief football reporter.
A sporting fanatic who is keen to promote all codes in the Illawarra and abroad. Mercury's chief football reporter.
