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Saw the term in this article on Neil Craig in The Age. Dunno, just found it amusing. You guys will like the article, plus it has a photo of NC in the state guernsey in 1984 you should've worn for this year's heritage round.
Craig's example
July 6, 2006
Neil Craig's performance at Adelaide shows that great coaches do not have to have been great player, writes Jake Niall.
HERE'S a little-known piece of history about Neil Craig. In late 2002, after Terry Wallace walked out on the eve of round 22, the Western Bulldogs approached the present Adelaide coach to sound him out about his interest in the senior coaching position at Whitten Oval.
Craig had been recommended to Bulldogs president David Smorgon by AFL commissioner and former Crows chairman Bob Hammond, who was well versed in Craig's unique blend of sports science and football nous.
"Bob Hammond suggested we have a talk to him," Smorgon confirmed yesterday. "We got feedback pretty quick that he really wasn't interested in talking."
Craig stayed in Adelaide and bided his time under Gary Ayres, as Peter Rohde took the Bulldogs job in an ill-fated union. The Dogs did not land their own master until Rodney Eade returned from exile two years later.
Smorgon is not sure whether the Bulldogs would have chosen Craig had he put his hand up, but it remains an indictment on a good number of Victorian clubs that, to my knowledge, only one other club — West Coast — seriously considered hiring the man now gaining Guus Hiddink-like mystique in the AFL.
Craig had no profile east of Edenhope and one can imagine the boards of various clubs wondering how supporters would accept an obscure Croweater who had been involved in track cycling.
Invisible outside of SA a few years ago, Craig has grown in stature now that the Crows are the competition colossus, with a stratospheric percentage (171), two defeats by an aggregate of five points and an astonishing average points against of 65 a game.
What is most imposing, in a sense, about Craig's "Crowbots" is that while they are producing super numbers, they are not a super group of players in the vein of Essendon 2000, Brisbane 2001-03 or Hawthorn 1988-89.
The Crows' players are not a quantum leap above the rest and their supremacy is based on a superior system, on highly organised training and playing methods, rather than the outlandish talent that marked the Hawthorn and Brisbane hegemonies.
It's a tribute to the rigorous professionalism of West Coast that the Eagles identified Craig's special qualities and were set to hire him at the end of 2001 when Craig abruptly withdrew from the running, allowing John Worsfold an easy rails run.
Craig is one of the select foursome to have coached at the highest level over the past 40 years without a VFL/AFL pedigree. The others were Col Kinnear (Sydney 1989-91), Allan Miller (South Melbourne 1967-68) and Wayne Brittain (Carlton 2001-02).
One would think that Craig's success would put paid to the ludicrous notion that a coach must have a high media "profile" or have played 150 games of AFL football to coach. Alas, the AFL industry is not yet that clear-sighted, not in Victoria anyway, where the marketing cart is often placed before the football horse.
Already, there is speculation about whether James Hird, Michael Voss and Nathan Buckley will coach. Nothing against these champions, who might well possess the raw material to coach, but history suggests there is little correlation between playing and coaching ability.
The elite NFL coaches, such as Mike Shanahan (Denver) and Bill Belichick (New England) did not play at the top level. They proved their bona fides as coaches, serving long college apprenticeships. Joe Montana does not coach the 49ers.
Even in our game, the bulk of the better coaches have been schooled in the back pocket and Leigh Matthews and Malcolm Blight are exceptions to the indentikit of winning coach.
"Profile" should not be confused with a candidate's media capabilities, which Smorgon considered "a fundamental aspect" of coaching today.
When will the industry, particularly Victorian luddites, recognise that the best coaches might not even be AFL players, much less great league footballers?
"It will take more than one Neil Craig to do it," said coaching elder David Parkin, whose promotion of Brittain foundered on Carlton's collapse. One Craig, though, ought to be enough.
Craig's example
July 6, 2006
Neil Craig's performance at Adelaide shows that great coaches do not have to have been great player, writes Jake Niall.
HERE'S a little-known piece of history about Neil Craig. In late 2002, after Terry Wallace walked out on the eve of round 22, the Western Bulldogs approached the present Adelaide coach to sound him out about his interest in the senior coaching position at Whitten Oval.
Craig had been recommended to Bulldogs president David Smorgon by AFL commissioner and former Crows chairman Bob Hammond, who was well versed in Craig's unique blend of sports science and football nous.
"Bob Hammond suggested we have a talk to him," Smorgon confirmed yesterday. "We got feedback pretty quick that he really wasn't interested in talking."
Craig stayed in Adelaide and bided his time under Gary Ayres, as Peter Rohde took the Bulldogs job in an ill-fated union. The Dogs did not land their own master until Rodney Eade returned from exile two years later.
Smorgon is not sure whether the Bulldogs would have chosen Craig had he put his hand up, but it remains an indictment on a good number of Victorian clubs that, to my knowledge, only one other club — West Coast — seriously considered hiring the man now gaining Guus Hiddink-like mystique in the AFL.
Craig had no profile east of Edenhope and one can imagine the boards of various clubs wondering how supporters would accept an obscure Croweater who had been involved in track cycling.
Invisible outside of SA a few years ago, Craig has grown in stature now that the Crows are the competition colossus, with a stratospheric percentage (171), two defeats by an aggregate of five points and an astonishing average points against of 65 a game.
What is most imposing, in a sense, about Craig's "Crowbots" is that while they are producing super numbers, they are not a super group of players in the vein of Essendon 2000, Brisbane 2001-03 or Hawthorn 1988-89.
The Crows' players are not a quantum leap above the rest and their supremacy is based on a superior system, on highly organised training and playing methods, rather than the outlandish talent that marked the Hawthorn and Brisbane hegemonies.
It's a tribute to the rigorous professionalism of West Coast that the Eagles identified Craig's special qualities and were set to hire him at the end of 2001 when Craig abruptly withdrew from the running, allowing John Worsfold an easy rails run.
Craig is one of the select foursome to have coached at the highest level over the past 40 years without a VFL/AFL pedigree. The others were Col Kinnear (Sydney 1989-91), Allan Miller (South Melbourne 1967-68) and Wayne Brittain (Carlton 2001-02).
One would think that Craig's success would put paid to the ludicrous notion that a coach must have a high media "profile" or have played 150 games of AFL football to coach. Alas, the AFL industry is not yet that clear-sighted, not in Victoria anyway, where the marketing cart is often placed before the football horse.
Already, there is speculation about whether James Hird, Michael Voss and Nathan Buckley will coach. Nothing against these champions, who might well possess the raw material to coach, but history suggests there is little correlation between playing and coaching ability.
The elite NFL coaches, such as Mike Shanahan (Denver) and Bill Belichick (New England) did not play at the top level. They proved their bona fides as coaches, serving long college apprenticeships. Joe Montana does not coach the 49ers.
Even in our game, the bulk of the better coaches have been schooled in the back pocket and Leigh Matthews and Malcolm Blight are exceptions to the indentikit of winning coach.
"Profile" should not be confused with a candidate's media capabilities, which Smorgon considered "a fundamental aspect" of coaching today.
When will the industry, particularly Victorian luddites, recognise that the best coaches might not even be AFL players, much less great league footballers?
"It will take more than one Neil Craig to do it," said coaching elder David Parkin, whose promotion of Brittain foundered on Carlton's collapse. One Craig, though, ought to be enough.
