Micky J with his Level AFL Coach's Certificate - and his new Swannies' jumper.

Micky J, fresh off being awarded the Rick Trewavas Medal last weekend, has also just received his Level 1 AFL Coaching Certificate! Micky J is very much on a sausage roll and below he tells us how it all happened – and how Auskick is about to happen in Hoi An!

For those of you wondering where MJ was on the night before the 2011 Asian Champs, he wasn’t wandering the streets of Bangkok – he was in the classroom swatting for his Level 1 AFL Coaching Certificate.

Following the disappointment of losing to the Cambodia Eagles last weekend, MJ returned home to the welcome news that he’s passed the coach’s course and been admitted to the inner sanctum of phlegm-spitting, loud-mouthed ranters that call themselves coaches.

His report card from the Level 1 course indicates that MJ excelled at demonstrating rudimentary aspects of the sport, in particular, dropping the ball when nearly tackled, appealing to the umpire in a high-pitched whine, stamping his foot on the ground after his lead is ignored and pleading industrial deafness for not noticing his teammate alone in the goal square.

Off the field on match day, the Level 1 Coaching Coordinator was impressed with MJ’s attention to detail about making sure everyone’s hair was neat, having multi-coloured board magnets, and his ability to fashion a long-winded oratory about a distant relative who overcame a life-threatening illness to almost make the Olympic synchronized swimming team into a motivational 3/4-time speech while his players stood shivering in the rain – but he lost points for forgetting to order the oranges.

Mick Martin, Sydney Swans Fan Development Executive, has agreed to kick-start MJ’s coaching career in SE Asia by sending a dozen Aus Kick footies to Hoi An where they will be used to brainwash a dozen students (French, English, New Zealanders & rugby-hugging-Australians) into taking up the sport.

Second step in MJ’s Aussie Rules world-domination plan is to use these kids as coaching assistants to conduct “Come ‘N’ Try AusKick” at the schools currently receiving swimming lessons from the Swim Vietnam crew.

Well done and congratulations, MJ!

Related item: Saigon Auskick will be held from 2-3pm tomorrow at RMIT University and every Saturday afternoon.