Coaching Staff Discussion on coaching panel 2020 Who stays, who goes

Jun 2, 2014
21,780
55,129
AFL Club
Sydney
Other Teams
The Rebel Alliance
Seems relevant that they have their own separate thread leading into the silly season.

Head Coach: John Longmire
Assistant Coaches: Brett Kirk, Dean Cox, Stevie J
Development Coach: John Blakey (Head of), Tadgh Kennelly, Jeremy Laidler, Lloyd Perris

Should include recruiting team here:
Manager Recruiting and List Strategy: Kinnear Beatson
National Recruiting Manager: Simon Dalrymple
 
Last edited:

Tedeski

Brownlow Medallist
Oct 2, 2006
21,806
26,870
Melbourne
AFL Club
Sydney
Other Teams
Mava Fan Cooler
One of the key issues for us has been the inability to attract off field staff & Gerard Healy told Caroline Wilson this when she had a go at Harley for sooking.
It is more so an issue attempting to attract quality staff as the move to Sydney is an expensive one compared to staying in Vic at another club & now that there is a soft cap, that will hit us pretty hard should we need to pay a premium to attract quality.
 

Skhilton14

Team Captain
Oct 2, 2016
321
484
AFL Club
Sydney
Surely McVeigh replaces Kennelly as backline coach. I think that would be a great move imo.

I'd love Cox to stay, when you see him live on match day he seemingly speaks with great enthusiasm. He has come from a successful club and his rucking expertise will be invaluable considering our lack of standout big men. He will really aid the development of guys like McLean, Knoll, etc.

If someone has to leave, Kirk would be my candidate imo. Some of the mid work has been really messy since he has taken over. I know he hasn't had a lot to work with, but when you watch the matches our set ups have been poor and often players are in poor positions. Even without strong players in there (when compared to what we've had) you can still set up correctly.

I saw Leigh Tudor is leaving North and will be available to coach elsewhere in 2020. Word was that he was the mastermind behind the 2012 premiership and really thought outside the box which would be a very beneficial asset for our panel. Whether he would come back to Sydney though is another issue.

Will be interesting to see what happens in the off season no doubt.
 

The Gong

Norm Smith Medallist
Oct 24, 2012
6,774
14,382
AFL Club
Sydney
Other Teams
Northern Districts Tigers
I find it hard to understand how any of us could have an even remotely informed opinion about how well particular assistant or development coaches are doing their job.
I, for one, have no idea how to assess their performance from an external viewpoint. How much do they directly influence the performance of the players?

It might seem easy to say that our midfield has been very ordinary but I could rattle off a number of reasons for that that don't necessarily include who is the midfield line coach.
 

Olian

Norm Smith Medallist
Jul 12, 2013
8,498
13,976
Between the Bridges
AFL Club
Sydney
David Teague was forwards coach at the Blues pre Bolton being sacked for 2018 and part of 19 when they couldn’t reach a 100. So it could be argued he wasn’t a good assistant.

Fast forward three months and Teague is now a senior coach and lifted the Blues scoring average by 3-4 goals a game.

Assistants seem somewhat irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.

Fortunately the Swans don’t have a platoon of assistants. It falls on the head coach at the end of the day and he’s around for a few more years.
 
Agree it is hard to judge. Our midfield is among the worst in the league. Is that the personnel running through the mids, set ups or overall defensive strategies? This year Geelong significantly changed their midfield personnel and got a positive result.

I like Lappin but I am a bit sick of the Cats connection. Given horse has been there for ages and seemingly has a job for life a freshen of the assistants is not bad.

Don't know how long Gardiner is contracted for, but I would prefer a strong and more experienced Head of Footy who can challenge the Coaching Group.
 
We have one already. Horse answers to him as it is, just as he had to do with Dean Moore and Tom Harley and Roos before that with Andrew Ireland. Gardiner is going no where after just one year.


true, though I meant Someone in the box like Balme type
 
Oct 9, 2001
18,059
15,823
2, 4, 6, 8
AFL Club
Sydney
true, though I meant Someone in the box like Balme type

Kind of pointless really if they don’t add to our current group of assistants. We need the best coaches available regardless of age.

We have a Head if Footy that horse answers to and if you put someone senior in the box then either Horse won’t be answerable to them or your doubling up on a position needlessly.

So you’re basically adding a older assistant that answers to Gardiner and Horse at the end of the day and not a Balme like figure.
 
Agree it is hard to judge. Our midfield is among the worst in the league. Is that the personnel running through the mids, set ups or overall defensive strategies? This year Geelong significantly changed their midfield personnel and got a positive result.

I like Lappin but I am a bit sick of the Cats connection. Given horse has been there for ages and seemingly has a job for life a freshen of the assistants is not bad.

Don't know how long Gardiner is contracted for, but I would prefer a strong and more experienced Head of Footy who can challenge the Coaching Group.

Ha ha that's an interesting one.

The personnel running through the midfield is wonderful apparently.

But we're not in a position to blame the midfield coach either.

Must be just a mythological curse because no one at our club is to blame for us having one of the worst midfields in the competition!
 
Back