SIX premierships in eight years. It’s a resume most AFL coaches would envy.

Yet the man responsible for perennial AFL Cairns powerhouse Port Douglas Crocs sustained success over the past decade remains as humble today as he ever has.

While he’ll baulk at the comparison, it’s completely just to speak of Cooper in the same breath as more renowned and higher profiled elite sport coaches such as Craig Bellamy or Alastair Clarkson.

While he hasn’t coached at the top level and has remained content to ply his trade in local footy it can’t be denied that coaching the Crocs to six grand final wins in eight years, including five straight between 2016-2020 is unbelievable reading in anyone’s language.

At AFL club land across Far North Queensland Cooper is an institution.

In this rare extended interview ahead of this year’s AFL Cairns season Newsport journalist Michael Warren chatted extensively about all things coaching with the master footy brain.

NP: You’ve achieved everything you possibly could as a footy coach… five straight premierships, six in eight years, and you currently enjoy a winning percentage as head coach that hovers around the 80% mark. Put simply, you have nothing left to prove… what keeps you motivated year after year to get the job done?

BC: I’ve grown up around footy clubs, especially during my youth. It’s just like getting up and having breakfast for me.

It’s a natural thing for me; I know the environment and I know the pros and cons that go with the environment. I coach a lot around mate-ship. We’re a bit of melting pot here in Douglas. We have guys from Tasmania, SA, Victoria and southern Queensland.

The players, they all get up here, they’re away from home, you watch them form that bond, which I did with my mates many years ago. To watch that unfold and to see them embrace the club right next to our volunteers and supporters is probably the biggest rush of all.

NP: In simple terms what do you stand for and what are your non-negotiables?

BC: For me it’s about investment.

In general, I believe I’m better picking a less skilled player that’s willing to give his all, over a player who is not 100% committed to our club and its overall success. I want players to give their all, that’s all I ask.

NP: How do you continue to evolve as a coach?

BC: I have certain (coaching) philosophies and values around footy, and the way it’s played, but you tweak the way you play a bit. Your strategies at this level are determined by what playing roster you have.

I also have some decent contacts in AFL land where I’m able to learn the latest philosophies and strategies at that level, dum it down and then adapt those tactics into the way we go about our footy.

NP: How do you handle failure as a footy coach?

BC: Not well. If you ask guys I play with or have coached I’m not great, but I’m understanding of that.

I hate losing, but I’d like to think I show good sportsmanship. I analyse it, I pull (losses) apart.

I’ll do 10 times more game analogy on a loss then what I’ll do on a win. Because you can take and learn so much off a loss.

NP: What inspires you?

BC: In sport, I like to see battlers do well. I like to see kids come out of disadvantaged situations that have opportunities in sport to grasp those and go on and do well.