When the new Essendon president David Barham spoke after sacking Ben Rutten and announced the club’s search for a new coach, he said they needed a more experienced coach to take over.
“We think a more experienced coach might be able to get more out of this list, and we want to give our list the best chance,” he said.
Essendon president David Barham and former Bombers coach Ben Rutten.Credit:Getty Images
That was broadly interpreted as meaning someone who had been a senior AFL coach before and dramatically reduced the field of prospective candidates.
Pleasingly, the club has moved in the days since to clarify that “experienced” was not intended to be limited to only an ex-senior AFL coach.
Josh Mahoney said on ABC radio at the weekend that experienced could and would also mean coaches that have a long CV before coming into the job, like Chris Fagan did at Brisbane and Craig McRae at Collingwood.
Collingwood coach Craig McRae.Credit:Getty Images
A new AFL senior coach does not have to be a green coach. Besides in the last decade every premiership has been won by a coach who had never coached another senior AFL team.
Precious few of the most recent premiership coaches have previously coached their own team either, or been teachers, which was the other thing considered essential on a coaching CV for a time.
Those points are raised not to suggest former senior AFL coaches should be bypassed for the next big thing or grey hair but are made to illustrate the point that there is no perfect CV for senior AFL coaching.
Clubs are drawn to coaches who come out of successful clubs and have had success themselves as a player or coach. That’s understandable, for knowing what success looks like and how good organisations operate is important. But clubs equally tend to under-appreciate the value of a coach who has been at a club that has been down where you are now and has ridden with it as it has prosecuted change and crafted a rise up the ladder.
Former St Kilda and Fremantle coach Ross Lyon.Credit:Getty Images
The addition of Robert Walls on Essendon’s coaching selection panel was a smart move. He provides objective outside eyes and has a deep understanding of coaching and what makes a good one. In one sense it cannot harm the chances of Ross Lyon, should the former Saints and Dockers coach want the job, as it was Walls’ very strong endorsement of Lyon when he was on the Saints’ coaching selection panel that saw Lyon get the job.
Similarly, that same St Kilda panel points to the fact that Walls on that panel was open to the idea of a first-time coach, one with a low profile but with an impeccable CV. Lyon proved a smart choice.
Dale Tapping, who is at Essendon now as an assistant coach, possibly has a CV the equal of anyone who has not coached a senior AFL team – headed up development programs, been a line coach, coached his own teams successfully – but he is seen to lack the profile to capture the imagination of the Essendon fan base, let alone the selection panel. It should not matter.
A similar query was made of the quietly spoken McRae and he has rapidly changed perceptions. Gravitas comes with the job, and with wins.
There are always good coaches out there, it is a matter of finding them. Coaches who come runner-up for jobs at other clubs should not have that count against them for new positions. Being passed over might say more about the selection panel than the coach. It might also say more about the peculiarities of what that club needs more than what you need.
At Essendon that means they need a coach who is not still learning how to coach.
RUSTY DUSTY?
Richmond is the most threatening side outside the top four because the Tigers go into the finals campaign unburdened by fear and expectation like the others. It makes them dangerous.
Richmond are “playing with house money”. They have pocketed three flags with the rump of this playing group, so squeezing out another with a team that has been rebuilt on the run this year would be a bonus. Nothing is expected of them and falling short is not a comment on their standing.
Dustin Martin is poised to come back for the Tigers in the finals after nine weeks out with a hamstring injury.Credit:Getty Images
They have played the year basically without Dustin Martin, the sun around which the Tigers’ game has long orbited, and have worked out how to play and win without the heavy reliance on him.
Now they get him back, the question, which feels like a luxury, is to work out how Martin can complement Richmond not how Richmond can complement Martin.
They will both find a way. The more pressing question is how Martin comes back after nine weeks out? A player as durable as Martin has seldom had to ask this question of himself.
The Lions feel like a counterpoint to Richmond. With one win from six finals under Chris Fagan and all of the losses at home at the Gabba that is a heavy burden going into an elimination final against a team like Richmond. Of comfort is the fact the one final win they did have was … against the Tigers two years ago at the Gabba.
T-MAC FOR DEMONS
Where Richmond has Martin returning to reshape their look, as significant to the shape of the finals is the spectre of Tom McDonald being available.
McDonald booted a goal in the VFL but, more importantly, got through the minutes to put himself in the frame to be able to play finals at some stage for the Demons. Having not played since round 10 the query is whether one VFL game is enough? With the Casey team winning their final they get next week off so there isn’t the option of playing another VFL game next week.
Interestingly, Mitch Brown kicked five in the same VFL game and Sam Weideman was among the best. But it has been McDonald that has been the missing piece all year in a forward set-up that has spluttered. One game back might not be ideal, but it is enough. He has to play. He makes Melbourne look vastly better against a team the Demons lost to by two goals in round 12.
CAMERON QUESTION
Jeremy Cameron.Credit:AFL Photos
The Cats have a question that is similar but different. What do they do with Jeremy Cameron? Unlike McDonald who needs games, the question of Cameron is if by missing this week – and potentially getting another week off next if they win – would it be better than any risk of further hamstring injury problems if he does play.
Chris Scott was emphatic that Cameron was recovered from his hamstring and would play. We have no reason to doubt him … except he is an AFL coach talking about an injured player in finals. We tend to doubt all of them.
The qualifying final on Saturday is exactly 21 days from when Cameron suffered the hamstring injury. Twenty-one days is bang on the normal recovery time from a single hamstring tear. The scans of this injury revealed it was a strain not a tear, so it might have been mild and his recovery might have been quicker. But it is also the fourth hamstring issue he has had this year, the risk of re-injury must be front-of-mind given his importance to the Cats’ September campaign.
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