Neil Balme New Football Manager

REAL FOOTY

Geelong football boss Neil Balme will make a return to Collingwood to head up its football department, replacing Rodney Eade, who has joined Gold Coast as senior coach.
Balme has been on a rolling, open-ended contract at Geelong and so was not strictly poached by Collingwood.
Balme agreed he was moving to Collingwood at an important time for coach Nathan Buckley, with whom his good relationship has endured, and he admitted working with Buckley was a factor in his decision.
He stressed that his decision was in no way a reflection on his relationship with Chris Scott, who he praised as an excellent coach to work with.
"I've known 'Bucks' for a long time and he is someone I have the highest personal and professional regard for," Balme said.
"We share a lot of common ground in terms of our thinking on the game and to take on the challenge of building something substantial and, hopefully, pretty successful with him is of real appeal. I had a wonderful time with Geelong but the time to move on had arrived."
It is understood Balme, who worked as Collingwood's football operations manager from 1998 until 2006, has been offered a significant pay rise to return to the Pies.
Balme left the Magpies after a review conducted by a former SAS soldier, whose tenure at the club was short-lived.
Balme's role at Geelong will be taken up by Steve Hocking, who has been with the club since 2004, much of that time as football operations manager. Balme will stay with the Cats until after this year's draft.
"We thank Neil for his outstanding contribution to the club over the past eight years and at the same time welcome Steve as our new head of football," Cats CEO Brian Cook told the club's website.
"Steve has been instrumental in our success over the past decade and has played a key leadership role in both football and at our club. The transition to Steve will be made much simpler by the fact that he has been so involved in our operations at all levels for so long."
Cook said Balme's decision to leave the club was not a surprise, as Balme had kept the club updated throughout his discussions with the Pies.
Given Collingwood's demand for compensation from Gold Coast for losing Eade, the prospect of Geelong asking for something similar from the Pies for Balme's departure was raised at Monday's press conference.
However Cook revealed Balme was not under an ongoing contract with the Cats, and therefore the idea of compensation was "not relevant" and would not be discussed with Collingwood.
Although sad to lose him, Cook said Balme went with Geelong's blessing.
Balme's only requirement is to give the club four weeks notice, which he will do by helping the Cats through the upcoming draft period - something he stressed was important to him.
Hocking will watch over Balme's shoulder and continue his development through that period.
Cook also revealed the club was close to officially announcing two new key appointments in the club's fitness department.