This week we have seen the retirement of Leigh Mathews and last year we saw two other great (but old) coaches in Kevin Sheedy and Denis Pagan getting the flick. Why are all these old coaches going and are they going before their time?
Todays AFL clubs seem to be going towards a trend of youthfulness in their head coaches and the older generational coaches like Mathews, Sheedy, Pagan, Malthouse and to a lesser extent Wallace, Craig and Eade are seen as yesterdays coaches who are out of touch with today’s footballers.
The current older generation of coaches in Malthouse, Wallace, Eade and Craig will be under consistent pressure to see their team become a truly AFL premiership powerhouse. Of these coaches only Malthouse has seen success which was 14 years ago and only Eade has also taken a side to a Grand Final.
However if you look at other sports like European soccer, NFL etc all the coaches are well over 60 and still going strong. Even 20 plus years ago in the AFL you had coaches like Jeans who coached for 20 plus years but in today’s game they are not.
So is it because they are out of touch with today’s generation? Is today’s generation different than yesterdays generation? Are their needs different? Is it because the trends and the way the game is being played is so fast evolving that these coaches are failing to evolve with it?
How can we keep these old coaches in the AFL club?
I think placing all the old coaches in the media is not the right idea, I personally cannot stand Walls as an ‘expert’ commentator. However I think a better place to put them is in the current trendy AFL job called the “General Football Manager”. Have a look at some of the current ex-coaches in a similar job position.
- Neil Balme at Geelong after a similar job title at Collingwood after failing as a coach at Melbourne.
- Chris Connolly at Melbourne after being pushed last year at Fremantle.
- Robert Shaw at Fremantle (for 2008) after coaching at Adelaide, Fitzroy.
- Neale Danihear (2009 onwards) for West Coast after being pushed in 2007 at Melbourne.
There are rumours also that Leigh Mathews is going to be asked to do a similar role at the Gold Coast. What ever Leigh Mathews does, I hope its in a club as he would be wasted doing half time reports for the TV.
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September 16th, 2008 at 2:43 pm
Ah, another member for the “Robert Walls is an oxygen thief Action Faction”! Welcome aboard!
I think you’ve hit on an important factor — evolution of the game. By contrast, NFL hasn’t changed enormously. Players are bigger and fitter, but tactically there’s not a lot that’s new.
AFL, on the other hand, is changing at an astonishing pace in many ways. I watched some footage of the ’65 Grand Final last year — it was a different game completely. Then a few weeks later I saw bits of the ’76 GF (after the famous 1970 Barassi handball-fest turnaround). It was much closer to today’s game, but the players’ skills were seriously abysmal by today’s standards. Even a decade ago the skill levels were pretty ordinary by the standards we expect today.
Along with the skill, speed and strength factors, there have been tactical revolutions in AFL that haven’t been seen in other codes. Flooding for instance, rolling zones, interchanging and so on.
A coach who can’t adapt a game plan quickly (are you listening Denis Pagan?) will quickly be shown the Exit sign… I’ll introduce some other thoughts on coaching over on aussierulesblog. Good topic!
aussierulesblogs last blog post..A sledgehammer to crack a peanut
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September 17th, 2008 at 8:55 am
Good points about the adapting a game plane quickly.. Malthouse possibly saved his career by mixing the team game plan up a bit were Mathews, Craig and Sheedy have either been showed the door or under pressure.
btw for others aussierulesblog post is: http://aussierulesblog.blogspot.com/2008/09/coaching-credentials.html
Jermayns last blog post..The Christian Pop Star movement
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