Tallon Smith
The Young Cherrypickers have announced a major change to their coaching setup heading into next year, with Jayke Hogan and Daniel Barclay to take the reins of the First Grade side for the 2026 Group 9 season.
The pair will be joined by another big name as Assistant Coach, with former Cronulla Sharks star Nathan Stapleton to lend his expertise to this season’s Group 9 preliminary finalists throughout the upcoming campaign.
Young President Andrew Smith told Battlers For Bush Footy that the change comes as the side looks to rebuild around a core group of local talent that is filtering through into grade football.
“We wanted to take the club in a bit of a different direction this year, a bit of a reset and rebuild,” he said.
“We just thought Jayke Hogan would be the man to take us in that direction along with Dan Barclay.”
The pair replace outgoing mentor Tom Giles, who will return to Sydney to take up an opportunity in the junior representative system after coaching the Cherrypickers to a drought-breaking premiership in 2023.
While Hogan and Barclay will have some big shows to fill in their first respective appointments as head coaches in Group 9, Smith said he has full faith in the fact that each of them has served their apprenticeship in the game before taking on the job.
“Jayke’s been one of our leading players for a number of years now, he was the captain on the field last year, and he was ready to take the next step up,” he said.
“Daniel, he’s also been in the coaching system for a few years now, he’s actually got a very good resume when it comes to coaching, he’s affiliated with the [Western] Rams and the Penrith system.
“He’s done a lot of coaching and development, [learning] different techniques through them.
“He’s been a terrific asset to the club over the last couple of years and he’s been biting at the bullet to get the oppotunity to take on a head role and implement some of the stuff he’s done over the years into the team.”
Meanwhile, Smith said that having a former professional player in Stapleton assisting the pair with his expertise is yet another string to the club’s bow as they look to build the foundations for a sustained period of success over the next decade.
“Stapes was excellent this year when we brought him in,” he said.
“He’s actually lived in Young for a few years now, but we’ve just got him into the football after his accident, and he hasn’t lost anything upstairs, he’s got a terrific mind.
“He’s been in the top line system, he knows just about every aspect about footy and he’s very good with his video cutting and editing, so [we’ll] certainly utilise him there as well, but just having his experience amongst the group just adds to the coaching structure.”
Along with their top grade mentors, the club has also announced their Lower Grade coaches, with Jahnayah Freeman to take charge of the Pickers’ reserves.
The club’s full coaching setup across all grades can be found on its Instagram page.
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