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Prediction Brisbane Lions 2017 Coach is Chris Fagan
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Milk Steak
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Is there anywhere else to read it? Bloody herald sun
Here you go:
Who are the next wave of AFL senior coaches? We look at generation next
JON ANDERSON, Herald Sun
July 22, 2016 11:11pm
Subscriber only
A PLAYING career laden with premierships and a successful assistant coaching stint aside, just how do you identify the budding Alastair Clarkson who is going to forever chance the face of your AFL club?
It’s a question Brisbane’s powerbrokers may well have already asked themselves, or certainly will be asking, if the Lions lose to Essendon at Etihad Stadium, in a week where dual Geelong premiership coach Mark “Bomber” Thompson declared he had the hunger to coach again.
Despite Thompson’s renewed passion, the normal pathway these days is to go straight to the AFL landscape of assistants, given the varying degrees of success in recent times for Luke Beveridge, Brendon Bolton, Leon Cameron, Don Pyke, Alan Richardson and Adam Simpson.
No surprise that Beveridge, Bolton, Cameron and Richardson spent time under Clarkson, while Pyke had a varied post-playing career that included coaching in the WAFL, being an assistant at Adelaide and on the board at West Coast.
Then there was Richardson, the original coaching journeyman who began with East Burwood, before moving to Coburg in the VFL followed by assistant roles at the Western Bulldogs, Collingwood, Essendon, Carlton and Port Adelaide.
The short answer is there is no guaranteed pathway to success, although what is certain is you will never see another instance where someone with no coaching experience such as James Hird will be installed by a club still in love with a favourite son from his glorious playing days.
Today’s AFL coaching landscape insists you have a wide and varied CV of experience, and you won’t do your prospects any harm if you undertake the AFL’s coaching accreditation course as Justin Longmuir, Brett Montgomery, Jade Rawlings and Peter Sumich are currently doing.
That Level 4 program is headed by the AFL’s Michael Poulton and runs over two years, involving eight full days in the first year, four half days in the second and four modules. Each participant has a coaching mentor, with Neale Daniher one of those currently being employed.
“The AFL had a high performance course (Level 3) which essentially prepared players coming out of the system to go into an assistant coaching role but there was a huge gap between that and the responsibilities of a senior coach. Alistair Clarkson returned from an overseas study tour and pointed out we needed to fully prepare coaches, not so much about the actual footy but in all the other areas that go with being a senior coach,” said Poulton.
“We needed to give the rookie senior coach a much better chance of succeeding. Look at Brendon Bolton, who came in with a different background, one that was strong in education and teaching which helped make him really appealing for what Carlton was looking for. He was more than just ‘how do we guys to commit to a game plan’ and I think his skill set is now being highlighted.
”We accepted nine applicants in the first intake and four this year, the aim being to make it highly competitive to get in, guys who are going to be top of the shortlist. In time we would like to think the pool of Level 4 guys is where clubs will go to in the belief that is the best preparation for a senior coach.”
Carlton coach Brendon Bolton is the first graduate from the inaugural intake, which included John Barker (Carlton), Stuart Dew (Sydney Swans), Simon Goodwin (Melbourne, who becomes senior coach next year), Robert Harvey (Collingwood), Adam Kingsley (St Kilda), Simon Lloyd (Geelong), Matthew Nicks (Port Adelaide) and Blake Caracella (Geelong).
The above assistants are ones who have expressed the desire to take on a job that will rule their lives, that will place them under a level of pressure rarely equalled in everyday Australian life. And one that men such as Matthew Primus, Brett Ratten, Brenton Sanderson and Michael Voss have already had a decent taste of.
All of that quartet have admirers in terms of another tilt at a senior job, and as four-time premiership coach Leigh Matthews points out people are normally better the second time around: “You should be. It’s just the experience. It doesn’t always work in our game but it works everywhere else where experience helps you second time in the job. In our industry unless you have won a premiership in your first stint then you are lucky to get a second one. But logic suggests you would be better.”
Malcolm Blight, a two-time premiership coach and one who took Geelong and Adelaide to five Grand Finals in just nine years, agrees with Matthews but has one proviso: “They would be better but only if they were the right person for the job in the first place,” said Blight.
“If that was the case there is no doubt they would be better the second time. Michael Voss is an interesting one. If I was looking to take on someone like Michael, it would be fascinating to ask him 10 things he learnt, in some detail. I would want him to open up his heart about what he did right and wrong. What did you learn from it all? Because if you are not prepared to do that then you haven’t learnt from what happened.
“What’s happened now is the assistants, even though they don’t coach their own team, present to the team as part of their role. They are practising it with their line meetings and on match day with their groups. So they are more ready than they were 20 years ago.”
The assistant today is a very different beast, one that even goes down the path of completing an MBA as Sydney forward line coach Henry Playfair did: “I have learnt so many new skills, in terms of feedback, in terms of leadership. Plus there was data analytics and modelling and strategies for growth. Football is such a big business and my study gave me a better feel for where the Swans sit, what my strengths and how I can become more effective,” said Playfair.
Welcome to the new world of AFL coaching aspirants, where 300 games and three flags doesn’t quite carry the same weight they once did.
COACHING’S NEXT GENERATION
ON THE CUSP
Scott Burns (West Coast), Blake Caracella (Geelong), Stuart Dew (Sydney), Adam Kingsley (St Kilda), Simon Lloyd (Geelong), Brett Montgomery (Western Bulldogs), Matthew Nicks (Port Adelaide), Peter Sumich (Fremantle)
BACK FOR SECONDS?
John Barker (Carlton), Matthew Egan (Essendon), Brendan McCartney (Melbourne), Matthew Primus (Gold Coast), Brett Ratten (Hawthorn), Jade Rawlings (Richmond), Brenton Sanderson (AFL Academy), Michael Voss (Port Adelaide).
GUN APPRENTICES
David Teague (Adelaide), Ash Hansen (Western Bulldogs), Steven King (Western Bulldogs), Brendon Lade (Richmond), Justin Longmuir (West Coast), Henry Playfair (Sydney), Dean Solomon (Gold Coast)
I really like the prospects of Stewart Dew, Brett Montgomery and Matthew Nicks due to their assistant coaching experience and their accreditation so I hope those 3 are in the frame if we are in the hunt for a new coach. All three would need a beefed up football department and more support in the coaching ranks, however, if they are to succeed otherwise they will find the going very tough.
I've said this before but I'd love for the AFL to splash some money into our coaching group which really is subpar collectively as a group. I mean they can splash some cash to bring in a big name coach such as Bomber Thompson or Paul Roos but I'd love for them to also aid us in securing a couple of gun assistant coaches as well. If we landed Bomber Thompson as senior coach for three seasons e.g. Paul Roos at Melbourne, Stewart Dew as the next coach in line ready to take over e.g. Simon Goodwin and then also get 1-2 of Montgomery, Tudor, Nicks or Adam Kingsley in as assistants that would be a dream outcome in my opinion and I'd feel confident that we had the coaching group we need to take our playing group forward.
I've said this before but I'd love for the AFL to splash some money into our coaching group which really is subpar collectively as a group. I mean they can splash some cash to bring in a big name coach such as Bomber Thompson or Paul Roos but I'd love for them to also aid us in securing a couple of gun assistant coaches as well. If we landed Bomber Thompson as senior coach for three seasons e.g. Paul Roos at Melbourne, Stewart Dew as the next coach in line ready to take over e.g. Simon Goodwin and then also get 1-2 of Montgomery, Tudor, Nicks or Adam Kingsley in as assistants that would be a dream outcome in my opinion and I'd feel confident that we had the coaching group we need to take our playing group forward.
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bewsta
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Can I just say that I posted this before either had left their club so I'm pretty much the footy oracle now
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Zane Littlejohn from North Launceston is headed your way to be a development coach. Has done an amazing job winning the last two TSL premierships at North as they definitely weren't the best team in the league in either season. He was a pretty good player down here but retired young to concentrate on coaching the North senior team. Has also coached their juniors and is a qualified PE teacher. Really glad to see this, hope he has a similar career path to Bolton.
Interesting. Thanks for the news. Just looked up his profile on his footy club website. Looks about 12!
Simba Moyo
Hakuna Matata
Exciting news, great to hear. Just found a little piece on him after a quick Google search.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-04-30/game-day-for-zane-littlejohn/7364700
*Apologies - on my phone not sure how to embed the vid
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-04-30/game-day-for-zane-littlejohn/7364700
*Apologies - on my phone not sure how to embed the vid
Slitherin9
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Thanks Sin City. Good to see we're looking outside the square to get top coaches from lower leagues. I've long thought there is huge untapped coaching potential from players that weren't quite good enough to make the top level as players.
And you can't beat a Tassie boy
But I still can't believe Matthew Armstrong never got a chance at senior level.
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Matthew was more than capable but was certainly not a yes man and his bluntness got a few of the Devils more precious stars off side. Last time I saw him he was the Tas U18's high performance manager and seemed a lot more relaxed in this role. Very high footy IQ.Thanks Sin City. Good to see we're looking outside the square to get top coaches from lower leagues. I've long thought there is huge untapped coaching potential from players that weren't quite good enough to make the top level as players.
And you can't beat a Tassie boy
But I still can't believe Matthew Armstrong never got a chance at senior level.
Here's the club announcement on Littlejohn
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1216790855018130&id=143303175700242
Slitherin9
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N
Hopefully he's picked up a bit of that Armstrong vibe. Our youngsters need someone to keep them in the real world - kind of hard when you're 20 and earning 300k.
Nice. Seems like a serious commitment from an honest young man. And you can't do much better than the Bombers for a learning environment. They're the ultimate professionals of Tassie football.
Hopefully he's picked up a bit of that Armstrong vibe. Our youngsters need someone to keep them in the real world - kind of hard when you're 20 and earning 300k.
That article says he was 28 so he'd be 30 now so he isn't as young as he looks
It is good to see the club looking outside the box in regards to recruiting for our football department. With our rebuild in full swing it is essential that we get it right and do a good job of developing our quality youngsters and Littlejohn seems to have achieved a lot in a short amount of time with North Launceston. Watching that video of him coaching he kind of reminded me of a younger version of Brendan Bolton. The way he addressed his players was really similar. May have something to do with the teaching background they both have.
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Talk on the Adelaide board about Noble coming to the lions, not sure if as an assistant or head coach though.
Follows on from this article by Der-Wayne on the weekend.
Crows’ David Noble’s football intelligence puts him on radar of rival clubs
Dwayne Russell, The Advertiser
August 13, 2016 7:30pm
IT MAY distress some football traditionalists to hear it, but coaching by gut feel is dead.
Having four ex-AFL stars sitting in a coaches’ box making suggestions and on-field moves based on what their eyes only are telling them was once the recipe for success. It’s now a recipe for disaster.
Some of the most intelligent football people I now know never played a single AFL game. And some of the least intelligent played hundreds.
When the name of Adelaide Crows head of football David Noble; who played only two AFL games for Fitzroy and coached SANFL side Glenelg for two seasons; was whispered my way from two totally different directions this week, it deserved an investigation and an explanation as to why Noble is suddenly on the radar for the Brisbane Lions and any other AFL club looking for a senior coach.
Especially if the Crows win the flag this year and Noble’s stocks rise even further.
The start of the answer as to why Noble has been mentioned, is obvious. How many games a person has played counts less than ever.
People management skills are the bigger priority, and Noble’s short time at Harvard and his half completed MBA look good on his resume. But not as good as his record in football department management at Adelaide.
Because Adelaide’s game day coaches’ box process, and Noble’s management of it, has tongues wagging in Melbourne. Noble is essentially Adelaide’s, and coach Don Pyke’s, information quality controller.
A high IQ and an ability to quickly identify the gold nuggets of information and the relevant trends among the growing sheets of data churned out by the stats gurus are now more vital assets for a prospective AFL coach than to own than a Brownlow Medal.
A head for dissecting data is vital, because data alone can be a coach’s enemy. It can trick and confuse.
The key is understanding and speedily deciphering it by knowing where to search for the gold among the misleading jungle of useless information.
Data can confirm deficiencies, identify opposition advantages and pinpoint game trends before a human coach without it will ever realise. If supersedes any gut feel, and yet better still if it confirms it.
Noble oversees the delivery of Adelaide’s key data points to Don Pyke on game day, with each line coach sitting next to his analyst to help streamline the process, in what I’m told, is one of the more emotionless but efficient coaches boxes in the AFL.
One of the hardest things to do for many people who have lived inside the football box all their adult life, is to look outside of it.
For a hundred years, the easiest and safest default for AFL clubs looking for a coach, has been to grab a former star player with a big marketable name, 300 games of experience, an individual medal or two, and some premiership success.
Better still, if, like James Hird, Micheal Voss, Nathan Buckley, Justin Leppitsch, Brett Ratten, Tony Shaw, Wayne Schimmelbusch and Matthew Primus, he is a favourite son.
It’s the safe option, because the decision to appoint ex-greats is easily justifiable, and sellable to a membership base.
Reports have suggested that ex-Carlton coach and 255 game premiership player Brett Ratten, who is a current Hawthorn assistant, is the likely replacement for Leppitsch at the Lions. That’s if the Brisbane board want to play it safe with the biggest name option again. Take it as fact that the name David Noble has also reached Brisbane’s radar.
The Crows have been the masters at finding intelligent senior coaches that no other club had considered.
Both Phil Walsh and Don Pyke have helped Adelaide achieve above fan expectation in the past two seasons and it would be ironic if another club stole David Noble from Adelaide.
But expect them to try. And if the right senior coaching job was offered, I would expect him to go.
DERRINALPHIL
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Interesting. Thanks for the news. Just looked up his profile on his footy club website. Looks about 12!
So does Bolton.
Whoever we get, the less meatheads the better.
POBT
Brownlow Medallist
Adelaide must have a brilliant footy department. They've barely missed a step despite losing gun players constantly for the last several years and being banned from the draft due to the Tippett issue.
Just having a look at their coaching lineup, there are a few "name" coaches there - the likes of Camporeale, Doc Clarke, Ryan O'Keeffe had good AFL careers. But they've also got guys who never played senior level footy or who could be described as journeymen.
I often see our supporters bemoan that we can't get the big name assistant coaches. I'm not sure that's a particularly good way to recruit coaching and development staff.
Just having a look at their coaching lineup, there are a few "name" coaches there - the likes of Camporeale, Doc Clarke, Ryan O'Keeffe had good AFL careers. But they've also got guys who never played senior level footy or who could be described as journeymen.
I often see our supporters bemoan that we can't get the big name assistant coaches. I'm not sure that's a particularly good way to recruit coaching and development staff.
On the Couch last night they spoke about David Noble. Glowing in their appraisal and when you look at his resume it reads very well. And he played for Fitzroy . Guys like Noble - Fagan and Blakey are who we should be seeking for head coach and if not that maybe head of development.
One thing is for sure the Crows have lost a lot of quality players last 5 years (Gunston, Davis, Tippett, Dangerfield) not to mention the tragic death of Phil Walsh last year and yet they continue to rebound and perform strongly on field. Noble would have to take a lot of credit for that.
. Guys like Noble - Fagan and Blakey are who we should be seeking for head coach and if not that maybe head of development.One thing is for sure the Crows have lost a lot of quality players last 5 years (Gunston, Davis, Tippett, Dangerfield) not to mention the tragic death of Phil Walsh last year and yet they continue to rebound and perform strongly on field. Noble would have to take a lot of credit for that.
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I never could tell David Noble apart from Matty Dundas. Are you sure we're not signing Matty Dundas?
Matty Dundas was a gun and then he went to Richmond and became a spud. God bless him.
Fatcat08
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