From what I can tell this role is newly created and hasn't existed in the past.
Cross sport training isn't a new concept and I'm sure Michelle will be great in her role but, given the connection with her partner, I think it would be great to see the club hire Cathy Freeman to run a few running sessions. You want to talk about inspiring players, look no further than Catherine Freeman.
Exactly what we need. This is the Gold Coast. Needs to get these guys to understand they're not here for a holiday....err...
Would love Aker at the Suns, but it'd be perfect for him to return to the Lions.
I think we all knew that the club made a conscious decision to move Charlie on, but to see it in writing from an actual member of staff is pretty damning.
Rocket Eade conducting the clean up ASAP. It's almost the old Robert Walls approach back in the Bears days. Bears players thought they were going to the Gold Coast for a party and Walls had no issue setting them straight. That's probably a big reason the Bears failed. Walls was ahead of his time in terms of professional expectations. Rodney Eade was the reserves coach at the Bears in Walls' first year as senior coach in 1991 and he stated in his book that he learned a lot from Walls in that year. Eade is really the perfect guy for the top job at the Suns. He's lived it as a player and coach. He came from an extremely successful program at the Hawks to the worst of the worst with the (Gold Coast) Bears. He then went on to coach at successful 90s teams like North and Sydney which was followed up by a successful tenure at the Bulldogs. He knows and understands the party lifestyle associated with the Gold Coast and knows when someone is fair dinkum about their footy. He's also not afraid to pull the trigger if he recognises a player isn't serious, hence Charlie and Harley being moved on 12 months into his reign.
Merrett was a dual-premiership player with Essendon prior to joining the Bears so he obviously understood what it took to climb the mountain. I do wonder if Gaz has had a similar conversation with Rocket. Anyway, Eade would have witnessed that situation in 1991 and perhaps even had some of those players playing in his reserves team that year when they went on to win the reserves premiership. You can see the similarities forming here but what's important now is that he gets the most out of his talented players that may not be as focused. This is what Michael Voss had to say about Walls' coaching and how he whacked him into line:
We all know the great player Voss went on to become and it's pretty similar to Gary Ablett Jr's situation at Geelong. Gaz's teammates told him he wasn't training hard enough and they believed he could be their Chris Judd (best player in the AFL at the time). Gaz later admitted that he wasn't working hard enough and they were right. 12 months later, Geelong win the flag and Gaz wins the best and fairest. Two years after that Gaz becomes a Brownlow Medalist and a two-time premiership player.
