KILMORE has its man for the 2026 football season, with Corey McCall appointed as the new coach of the Blues.
McCall takes over from Paul Derrick, who finished his tenure with a memorable campaign in 2025, delivering the Blues’ first finals victory in 24 years with a five-point win over Kinglake in the elimination final, before bowing out in the first semi-final with a loss to Ivanhoe.
McCall has been one of local footy’s more successful coaches in the last decade, making him a genuine coup for the club. Wherever he goes, success tends to follow.
In 2016, McCall delivered fellow Northern Football Netball League club Watsonia its first flag in 29 years, turning around a second semi-final loss to defeat Epping comfortably.
From there, McCall worked with West Preston-Lakeside, which delivered premierships in 2018 and 2019, working with the club in the latter success.
A move to Altona in the Western Football Netball League beckoned, where McCall put together an incredible campaign to break one of local footy’s great dynasties, ripping apart a run of seven premierships in succession from Deer Park to take Altona’s first flag in 10 years in 2022.
McCall spent time with Whittlesea this year assisting its under 19s, where the club made the grand final before losing to North Heidelberg.
McCall says he is excited to try and land Kilmore long-awaited success.
“I’m excited to get back involved with coaching. I was looking for the right opportunity that fits in with personal life and family life, and after meeting the committee and interviewing, I fed off the passion and the vision those guys had as well. I felt it profiled nicely for what I’m looking for,” he said.
“They are looking for success, nothing is guaranteed in football, but I’m looking to work as hard as I can to help them achieve the vision.
“They have done a power of work over the last two years, and it’s there and visible for everyone to see.
“I feel the country vibe and community vibe around Kilmore is infectious, and I gravitated towards that as well.”
McCall took particular note of how the community supported Kilmore’s achievements in recent years as a highlight.
“The club rode the wave across the football club with everyone being involved in finals football, and especially the under 19s,” he said.
“It’s the perfect time to come and build off that. It’s a clean slate for the senior football players, but I’ve also been involved with meeting with the junior coaches and getting involved within the football club and use my experience across the board.”
McCall’s philosophy is ensuring local players get to see success, in particular, those that are one-pointers.
“My method has been that you retain the playing list you have, and then you go out and improving the list with what you need,” he said.
“We have had several list management meetings already, and we have tried to get back some of the talented football players who are playing higher-division football or have left the footy club for whatever reason as one pointers. With local footy now, the one-pointers are huge.
“I was lucky enough to have 16 one-pointers in my Altona flag, and it means a lot to football clubs to see guys spend all their time at the football club, come in and be a part of success if or when that happens.
“The method for Kilmore is to try get the right people in to target the areas that you need. I am sure Laurimar, Ivanhoe, Mernda, Kinglake and Epping are all working towards the same thing, but one thing is, it is a team sport, so we are looking for the right profile of player to come in to help springboard another finals win. Obviously, qualifying for finals is the goal after they qualified last year.”
