As if you would not have known about the original interview from Richmond coach March, what a cop out! You can tell he is not in the channel 9 payroll

I hope the Herald Sun sold lots of papers from it
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Am I the only one who thinks the whole ‘Sheedy wants to coach again’ thing ridiculous? From the moment I saw it on the Herald Sun website I thought to myself that this is just a publicity stunt.

In my opinion Sheedy knows and always knew that he wasn’t a chance to coach Richmond next year.

For this to come out in the herald sun, with pictures attached to the article says to me that this is just a stunt pulled by the Herald Sun & Sheedy. You only have to look at the stuff he’s done to promote their supercoach competition to see how he’s sold himself out there.

I’m not buying in to it at all.
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@AussieRules – Yes I did make mention of age in my original post but my aim was not creating a “criteria” that the clubs must follow, but rather just stating the facts that clubs today in the AFL go for younger coaches instead of the older coaches like Sheedy. The recent premiership coaches are all 15+ years younger than Sheedy is at the moment.

I would suggest the young coach is less likely to be revolutionary, more concerned with shoring up their position and building a winning reputation, building a career.

You would think so but which current “new trends/ game plan” like the Cluster zone, handball crazy and the rotation of the bench etc has been started by an older established coach like Sheedy?

In looking at the last 10-15 years, it is the younger coaches who bring new ideas and game plans:
- Eade & Wallace (late 90s) with their flooding,
- Malthouse in the 90s with the Eagles big bodies,
- Pagans Paddock in the 90s,
- Roos with his American Football ideas,
- Neil Craig with his defensive strategies,
- Clarksons rolling zone in the last few years and
- Worsfold, Craig & Thompson high disposal count game plan.

If you look at some of the names in the above list like Pagan, Eade, Wallace & Malthouse none of them have created anything new recently.

Malthouse has re-invented himself by copying the Interchange crazy strategy and it has imo helped him stay in the game as a coach. But others like Pagan who refused to try something different, is no longer coaching & Wallace as mentioned by Geoff tried to copy a game plan to a team it did not suit and he is also no longer coaching…

Make of it as you wish but where I am sitting, it is these young coaches that tend to bring something new to the game rather than the older guys. btw I am glad we do not always agree, makes these discussions interesting

Nor am I saying that “age” is a criteria

Actually, that’s exactly what you’re saying. Look at the piece you posted. Age is the central theme of it.
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youth … bring[s] … the ability to think outside the box.

Lateral thinking is not, never has been, and never will be the exclusive domain of youth.

youth … are not worried about their “reputation” and they also have this recklessness attitude that is not afraid of doing something strange and stupid.

I would suggest the young coach is less likely to be revolutionary, more concerned with shoring up their position and building a winning reputation, building a career.

I don’t think Sheedy’s last couple of years at Essendon were cruelled by lack of innovation or lateral thinking. Coach and playing group tired of each other perhaps. Key injuries at crucial times and some risky drafting decisions that didn’t pay off also played a part.

@ Mark E: the key word in Wilson’s description is “grown”, and after 27 years, it’s hardly surprising. For the Richmond blokes, a few years of Sheedy would be a blessed release after the high-pitched whine of Plough and the neanderthal murmurings of Frawley for nearly a decade.
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