Former Brisbane coach Justin Leppitsch is enjoying life outside of the footy bubble and seems unlikely to return to the coaching ranks.
The former star Lion was a big part of Richmond’s trio of premierships under Damien Hardwick, but stepped away from the role at the end of 2020.
When asked if he still had the fire in him to coach on AFL Nation, Leppitsch responded: “Not really”.
“In a big picture sense, I had been doing it 28 years in a row and anyone who’s been in the modern footy schedule knows that it’s a 7am meeting, 9am training, 12pm meeting, 2pm opposition meeting and you just do that cycle on repeat,” Leppitsch said.
“For me, just to get out of that rhythm is really good, and have a breath and live some normal life and I’m enjoying that part of it.
“I’m actually watching more football now than I ever had, probably because I’m working for SEN.
“I’m actually quite enjoying watching the game (without the pressure). I’ve taken my kids to games, my wife and I sat in a corporate box last week with friends and I was like ‘how good’s this I can have a beer and watch the game’.”
When asked if he would reconsider coaching if offered a senior coaching role, Leppitsch said he wouldn’t rule it out, but “probably not”.
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“I have got the senior coaching job at Peninsula Boys Grammar at the moment and that is a big responsibility. I’ve got to pump up my own footballs and bring them there,” he said.
“Look, it’s really not on my radar (returning to AFL coaching).
“It really isn’t, but you never say never in life and I think that’s the most important thing.
“Would I go back and do a job like I did when I first started at Brisbane, probably not.
“Once you’ve been through that, you know that it’s a three or four years of pain thing.
“People say ‘we’ve got the three years and we’ve got the patience’, but sometimes they really don’t and that’s the difficulty in those sorts of jobs.
“That sort of thing I’m not really interested in, but how many good jobs are there?
“I don’t know if I answered your question, but probably not.”