Apologies if this has been covered already, but I found this story in today's Age rather interesting:
http://www.theage.com.au/news/rfnew...d-with-hawks-pc/2009/04/16/1239475000459.html
"HAWTHORN'S suspicions about the potential leaking of confidential information may have cost its assistant coach Damien Hardwick Essendon's senior coaching position after Kevin Sheedy's departure in 2007, a new book claims.
In Glory & Fame: the Rise and Rise of the Essendon Football Club, to be released next month, Essendon chief executive Peter Jackson claims that Hawthorn, which was in the middle of a finals campaign, made Hardwick surrender the computer on which he had compiled his presentation and notes.
Hardwick, a former Essendon premiership player and favourite of the Bomber fans, was perceived to be ahead of Matthew Knights, the other surviving applicant for the role, after the pair were twice interviewed by the Essendon sub-committee steering the new coach's appointment. But in the final interview, before the panel and the full club board, Knights impressed, while Hardwick faltered."
And more:
"While speculation at the time about the preference for Knights over Hardwick centred on Knights' more positive views about Essendon's senior list, Jackson says it was Knights' more professional final presentation, coupled with the knowledge of the younger players on the list he had gained from coaching the Bendigo Bombers, which got him over the line.
"Matthew got stronger and stronger as he went along, and his best performance, by a factor of two compared to the first interview, was in front of the full board," Jackson recalls. "I suppose, too, Matthew also had an advantage already being here. He knew what the players were thinking, he knew what the issues were in here, and he knew exactly where to go with it."
I always thought that story about Hardwick being pessimistic about the list and Knights talking it up was not the complete story. Perhaps if Hardwick had performed the interview after the finals he may well have been Essendon coach today.
http://www.theage.com.au/news/rfnew...d-with-hawks-pc/2009/04/16/1239475000459.html
"HAWTHORN'S suspicions about the potential leaking of confidential information may have cost its assistant coach Damien Hardwick Essendon's senior coaching position after Kevin Sheedy's departure in 2007, a new book claims.
In Glory & Fame: the Rise and Rise of the Essendon Football Club, to be released next month, Essendon chief executive Peter Jackson claims that Hawthorn, which was in the middle of a finals campaign, made Hardwick surrender the computer on which he had compiled his presentation and notes.
Hardwick, a former Essendon premiership player and favourite of the Bomber fans, was perceived to be ahead of Matthew Knights, the other surviving applicant for the role, after the pair were twice interviewed by the Essendon sub-committee steering the new coach's appointment. But in the final interview, before the panel and the full club board, Knights impressed, while Hardwick faltered."
And more:
"While speculation at the time about the preference for Knights over Hardwick centred on Knights' more positive views about Essendon's senior list, Jackson says it was Knights' more professional final presentation, coupled with the knowledge of the younger players on the list he had gained from coaching the Bendigo Bombers, which got him over the line.
"Matthew got stronger and stronger as he went along, and his best performance, by a factor of two compared to the first interview, was in front of the full board," Jackson recalls. "I suppose, too, Matthew also had an advantage already being here. He knew what the players were thinking, he knew what the issues were in here, and he knew exactly where to go with it."
I always thought that story about Hardwick being pessimistic about the list and Knights talking it up was not the complete story. Perhaps if Hardwick had performed the interview after the finals he may well have been Essendon coach today.
