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A tough year for all clubs: Ayres
Alan Shiell
afl.com.au
3:09:57 PM Thu 20 March, 2003
Adelaide coach Gary Ayres says this year’s AFL competition will be “more even than it’s ever been”.
“It’s vital for every club to keep improving because there are so many peripheral issues affecting the clubs,” Ayres said at AAMI Stadium on Thursday during a 30-minute preview of the season for South Australian media representatives.
“The main one, and I suppose it’s not a peripheral issue, is the finance – and how do you get supporters if you don’t perform?
“I think it’s going to be a pretty exciting year, just for the AFL in full. It’ll be a very, very hard year for all clubs.”
On what clubs he thought Adelaide would be competing against most for positions in the top four, Ayres said: “Well, you’d have to say on what you’ve seen, Brisbane – back-to-back premiers – have got a terrific list. Port Adelaide’s in the same boat, with the way they’ve played now for a few years.
“On what I’ve seen of Collingwood over the pre-season, they’ve definitely improved again – a grand final last year (September) and now another grand final (in March).
“They’re getting their squad together. They’re a bit similar to us. Mick (Malthouse) took over the same time as I did and we’ve both had to groom the list the way we wanted, and I think both clubs have shown considerable improvement the last three years.
“And obviously you look at sides like West Coast over there because they’ve got the same amount of home games as us, but it’s in Perth.
“Fremantle showed a fairly dramatic improvement … and there are sides like Hawthorn that would have been really savage about being in the top four and then not making the finals (last year).”
Ayres said the Crows were “acutely aware of the need to improve … and there are going to be 15 other clubs saying exactly the same thing”.
“I want the group to just have an insatiable appetite for winning, and if they can have that, well, you do generally get success,” he said.
“But the degrees of success are about getting a bit of luck along the way, and that’s always important when you’ve got a pretty small list, which all clubs have now.”
Asked how he instilled that appetite for success, Ayres said: “Well, being part of a side like Hawthorn, they never accepted second-best or they never accepted near enough was good enough.
“What we’ve tried to do here is have some non-negotiables about the way we play. The older players take that on board and when the younger ones come to the club, they know that’s what they’ve got to do to stay in the team.
“The character and the resolve of the players I’ve seen in the last 18 months are about having non-negotiables about the way we play.”
Ayres said Adelaide had identified the preparation for its successful campaign in the Wizard Home Loans Cup as “extremely important”.
“People can carry on and say it’s a Mickey Mouse competition and all that, but the club’s just got $200,000,” he said. “That ain’t Mickey Mouse in my reckoning.
“It’s about players preparing and putting their hands up for round one, and that’s important. And it’s about training and investing in what you hope you’re going to be good at for the rest of the year.
“We didn’t set out to win the Wizard Cup, per se. What it does do with the new (knockout) format is that if you keep winning, you get an opportunity to play off in a grand final.
“The players have been able to invest their three-and-a-half-to-four months of pre-season training into that shortened format and play some pretty reasonable footy against very good opposition.
“We had some tough games – Port Adelaide, West Coast up in Darwin, due to the conditions, and then the Kangaroos, who certainly seem like they’re going forward with the way they’ve played over the summer, and then we took on Collingwood at Telstra Dome.
“So I think all those things, from a confidence point of view, should give the guys a good feeling about approaching the season.”
Asked whether he subscribed to the Malthouse theory that clubs got only a brief window of opportunity (for an AFL premiership), Ayres said: “I haven’t really thought about it like that because I base a lot of my philosophies on where I played, and they (the Hawks) did it for 12 years, so that window was a bloody big window.
“To play in seven consecutive grand finals (1983-89), that’ll never be done again, I don’t believe.
“I think it’s about the management, and I know things were different then. There were fewer clubs and bigger lists … but I think if you can keep introducing the good young players you can get from the draft, and if you have to be aggressive and recruit, well, that’s what you’ve got to do because supporters don’t want to be down the bottom.
“It’s always about providing stability and consistency in the quest to be as good as we possibly can, given the personnel we’ve got and the environment – and that’s the coaching staff, the administration, the whole gamut.
“I think this club over the last three years has become even more professional and rock-solid, and the foundations are there hopefully to be around the top for a long period of time.”
Alan Shiell
afl.com.au
3:09:57 PM Thu 20 March, 2003
Adelaide coach Gary Ayres says this year’s AFL competition will be “more even than it’s ever been”.
“It’s vital for every club to keep improving because there are so many peripheral issues affecting the clubs,” Ayres said at AAMI Stadium on Thursday during a 30-minute preview of the season for South Australian media representatives.
“The main one, and I suppose it’s not a peripheral issue, is the finance – and how do you get supporters if you don’t perform?
“I think it’s going to be a pretty exciting year, just for the AFL in full. It’ll be a very, very hard year for all clubs.”
On what clubs he thought Adelaide would be competing against most for positions in the top four, Ayres said: “Well, you’d have to say on what you’ve seen, Brisbane – back-to-back premiers – have got a terrific list. Port Adelaide’s in the same boat, with the way they’ve played now for a few years.
“On what I’ve seen of Collingwood over the pre-season, they’ve definitely improved again – a grand final last year (September) and now another grand final (in March).
“They’re getting their squad together. They’re a bit similar to us. Mick (Malthouse) took over the same time as I did and we’ve both had to groom the list the way we wanted, and I think both clubs have shown considerable improvement the last three years.
“And obviously you look at sides like West Coast over there because they’ve got the same amount of home games as us, but it’s in Perth.
“Fremantle showed a fairly dramatic improvement … and there are sides like Hawthorn that would have been really savage about being in the top four and then not making the finals (last year).”
Ayres said the Crows were “acutely aware of the need to improve … and there are going to be 15 other clubs saying exactly the same thing”.
“I want the group to just have an insatiable appetite for winning, and if they can have that, well, you do generally get success,” he said.
“But the degrees of success are about getting a bit of luck along the way, and that’s always important when you’ve got a pretty small list, which all clubs have now.”
Asked how he instilled that appetite for success, Ayres said: “Well, being part of a side like Hawthorn, they never accepted second-best or they never accepted near enough was good enough.
“What we’ve tried to do here is have some non-negotiables about the way we play. The older players take that on board and when the younger ones come to the club, they know that’s what they’ve got to do to stay in the team.
“The character and the resolve of the players I’ve seen in the last 18 months are about having non-negotiables about the way we play.”
Ayres said Adelaide had identified the preparation for its successful campaign in the Wizard Home Loans Cup as “extremely important”.
“People can carry on and say it’s a Mickey Mouse competition and all that, but the club’s just got $200,000,” he said. “That ain’t Mickey Mouse in my reckoning.
“It’s about players preparing and putting their hands up for round one, and that’s important. And it’s about training and investing in what you hope you’re going to be good at for the rest of the year.
“We didn’t set out to win the Wizard Cup, per se. What it does do with the new (knockout) format is that if you keep winning, you get an opportunity to play off in a grand final.
“The players have been able to invest their three-and-a-half-to-four months of pre-season training into that shortened format and play some pretty reasonable footy against very good opposition.
“We had some tough games – Port Adelaide, West Coast up in Darwin, due to the conditions, and then the Kangaroos, who certainly seem like they’re going forward with the way they’ve played over the summer, and then we took on Collingwood at Telstra Dome.
“So I think all those things, from a confidence point of view, should give the guys a good feeling about approaching the season.”
Asked whether he subscribed to the Malthouse theory that clubs got only a brief window of opportunity (for an AFL premiership), Ayres said: “I haven’t really thought about it like that because I base a lot of my philosophies on where I played, and they (the Hawks) did it for 12 years, so that window was a bloody big window.
“To play in seven consecutive grand finals (1983-89), that’ll never be done again, I don’t believe.
“I think it’s about the management, and I know things were different then. There were fewer clubs and bigger lists … but I think if you can keep introducing the good young players you can get from the draft, and if you have to be aggressive and recruit, well, that’s what you’ve got to do because supporters don’t want to be down the bottom.
“It’s always about providing stability and consistency in the quest to be as good as we possibly can, given the personnel we’ve got and the environment – and that’s the coaching staff, the administration, the whole gamut.
“I think this club over the last three years has become even more professional and rock-solid, and the foundations are there hopefully to be around the top for a long period of time.”
