Football is filled with paranoia. Just look at the fake team line-ups the 18 AFL clubs send to the media each week or the vague player injury reports that supposedly protect some competitive advantage.
Ask an AFL coach if he has ever been fooled by these mythical line-ups? Then ask him why he thinks his rival will be duped.
The decision by some clubs to ban Daisy Pearce from the change rooms is not an example of club paranoia. It is a fair decision. One that has today set up a roadblock for Pearce.
Daisy Pearce is juggling the dual roles of Channel Seven commentator and Geelong assistant coach.Credit:Getty
The Melbourne AFLW premiership captain is capable of becoming the AFL’s first female senior coach at some point down the line.
Pearce’s natural charisma, leadership qualities, exceptional communication skills and strategic mind put her in pole position to shatter the game’s historic gender barriers.
To achieve this, she has no option but to give up her role in the media.
Pearce is now juggling dual tasks as a full-time assistant coach at Geelong and as one of Channel Seven’s game-day experts. She is not the first AFL identity to be locked out of opposition change rooms while being perceived to have a significant conflict of interest.
Brownlow medallist and Adelaide board member Mark Ricciuto won’t be allowed into the Port Adelaide rooms before Saturday night’s Showdown.
Some have known not to cross the threshold into opposition rooms in the pre-game, such as Eddie McGuire and James Brayshaw when they were presidents at Collingwood and North Melbourne.
Luke Darcy has juggled the burden of commentator and club director at the Western Bulldogs.
Player managers continue to call games featuring their clients. Why this is considered appropriate is for others to answer.
Part-time assistant coaches, such as Josh Jenkins at Geelong, are managing to be both media talking heads and club officials.
Current players, including Jack Riewoldt and Patrick Dangerfield, have even tested themselves with match-day media commitments.
Former Richmond champion and Seven expert Matthew Richardson feels Pearce has been singled out, and is a victim of double standards, but she is in a league of her own. After signing a four-year contract at Geelong, she is the only full-time assistant coach holding the microphone at a television network. It won’t last.
Collingwood assistant coach Justin Leppitsch made a significant impression in the media after he left Richmond and spent a year behind the microphone at SEN and Channel Seven. Seven quickly called him to work on its prime-time games, including finals, but Leppitsch gave away the media role when he agreed to join Collingwood under new coach Craig McRae last season.
Leppitsch could not have performed both roles successfully.
Port Adelaide AFLW player and assistant coach Erin Phillips quit her breakfast radio show after deciding to focus on coaching.
The backlash from rival clubs towards Pearce continued this week after Brisbane became the second team this season to ban her from broadcasting inside the Lions change rooms for Thursday night’s game against the Western Bulldogs.
“We’re not deliberately targeting Daisy. But it’s no different, I would have thought, if one of my assistant coaches worked in the media and wanted to go in the rooms of another club; they wouldn’t necessarily feel that comfortable with that because you do see things and you do hear things,” Brisbane coach Chris Fagan said on Wednesday.
It follows Richmond barring Pearce from its rooms for the broadcast of the season opener against Carlton.
Like Fagan, Richmond football leader Neil Balme admitted it was nothing personal against Pearce and frankly stated, “you can’t do both jobs”.
Balme is correct.
Seven’s managing director Lewis Martin does not seem concerned.
“My view was that we’d roll along with the season and, as Daisy’s role at Geelong has become a bit more clear, then obviously there were going to be some clubs to respond to that,” Martin said on SEN.
“We’ll respect that and have a chat with Daisy this week. Without dismissing it because it’s a football issue, it’s not really critical for us.”
The reaction from rival clubs is one of many issues for Pearce.
Viewers expect the commentators to call out mistakes, questionable coaching tactics and poor efforts from players. Understandably, Pearce appears reluctant to do this.
To do the job properly as an expert commentator, it is vital to analyse teams and players critically. While Seven’s coverage always leans to the positive, viewers expect the commentators to call out mistakes, questionable coaching tactics and poor efforts from players. Understandably, Pearce appears reluctant to do this.
Dangerfield was rightly questioned for his refusal to comment on the sickening Kysaiah Pickett bump when he was commentating for Seven in round one.
Viewers expect the commentators to offer unbiased opinions and insights that add to the broadcast and enhance the experience.
Geelong have started the season poorly, with two losses. Would Pearce criticise her boss Chris Scott should the topic come up during Seven’s broadcast?
The preparation to do both jobs adequately must also be a challenge. Assistant coaches are noted for the extraordinary hours they are required to work; often, the role is more time-consuming than the senior coach. Planning and reviewing training, coding games, coaches meetings, one-on-one player reviews, attending second-division games, opposition scouting, interstate travel and specific individual skills sessions with players are required tasks throughout the week.
It is hard to fathom how Pearce would find the time to adequately prepare for the broadcast of an AFL match seen by hundreds of thousands of viewers.
Pearce has the qualities and talent to excel as either a commentator or a successful AFL assistant coach and possibly the first female senior coach.
But she can’t be great at both, and the perceived conflict of interest that comes from trying to perform both roles simultaneously poses a significant challenge.
It will only be a matter of time before she’ll have to choose between the commentary box or the coach’s box.
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