Echuca United locks in 2013 premiership leader Scott Beattie as senior coach for 2024

The announcement comes less than a week after the shock sacking of Farran Priest, a premiership teammate of Beattie’s, with the club providing no explanation for the decision.

"Obviously there's a lot of links to the place,“ Beattie said following the appointment.

“With that decision that was made around Farran, I floated the idea of being able to help and the proposal was put to me to take over as coach in the interim while the club finds stability and direction in the long-term.

“That's the long and short of it. It's not forever, but it's an opportunity to get back into the coaching game.

“It holds good memories for me there, that place. I played there as a junior, I played in a premiership there, so it's a good vibe.”

Beattie has spoken with Priest, who he enjoys a close relationship with, and stressed the two remained great friends.

“I think all parties could have potentially gone about it in a different way, and it's not nice to see someone leave our footy club unhappy,” he said.

“Farran is a premiership player, a best-and-fairest winner, he's represented the league on multiple occasions. His contribution to the footy club is really significant, I want to make that really clear.

“He's an Echuca United person as far as I'm concerned. I'll be doing everything I can to make sure that he feels comfortable in that place and it might not be tomorrow, but him and his family are good people at that club.

“But that conversation went really well, because it was really important for me to have that conversation with him so he knows that he wasn't removed from that position for me to take it.

“We had quite a good conversation, he was quite honest and we're as good friends as ever.”

The turbulent period at the club has led to whispers those who signed on under Priest could look to play elsewhere, with Beattie aware of the challenge before him in retaining players.

“Over the next three or four days I'm going to get around and call these blokes,” he said.

“Just to find out what their experience looks like, what they want out of the footy and if they're enjoying their footy.

“It's not going to be the easiest thing in the world, we're under no illusions, but let's get back to enjoying our footy, learning a bit about the game and progressing from there.

“Look, if some blokes do move on, that's obviously not what we want, but it won't be for a lack of communication.”

Pre-season started at the club on Monday night, with players told of Beattie’s appointment, however, the incoming coach will not be available until February as he is currently travelling with family.

“That's what I've been doing over the last 24 hours, just getting around calling blokes and making sure they have some information about what the club is up to at the moment and where it sort of sits,” he said.

“Obviously it's not ideal, and my plan was to travel a fair bit longer, but I'll be back at the start of Feb and we'll get stuck into our work. But it'll be a pretty seamless December and January with what we're starting to put in place already.”

An Echuca United junior, Beattie has enjoyed a storied football career, which includes stints at Geelong’s VFL side, Goulburn Valley League outfits Echuca and Kyabram and most recently at the Cohuna Kangas in the Central Murray league.

Beattie’s coaching pedigree is also well established, not only leading Echuca United to it’s maiden flag, but also taking the helm of the Goulburn Valley and Murray Football League representative sides as an interleague coach.