he hasn't needed to, he's been universally considered within the AFL as one of the best assistant and strategic game day coaches for more than 10 years. Bassett did a good job at Norwood but he is still an eccentric character, whom if you ever hear Roo talk about him, has some polarizing traits that is a work in progress. Too much is made of turning around a SANFL powerhouse club.
Bassett's results in the SANFL are super impressive.
It's his resume, while others can put up fancy power point presentations and talk about how they're going to turn around a struggling club and move them forward blah,blah,blah Bassett can actually claim he did it. He did it in the most emphatic manner for his team played team defence and they played a style of football that made each and every player accountable. Something our team badly needs.
Listening to the players who actually played under him they have nothing but praise for Bassett. An eccentric character might just be what we need after two measured coaches who never put the fear into anyone when it was needed. All this talk about' "the processes, we'll go back and work hard on the track, no one is more passionate than me." Hell that lame talk reflected the culture of our old CEO.There's plenty who can talk the talk but always fall short.
The great coaches Malthouse, Blight, Clarkson and even Hickley have this underlying threatening tone about them. They can explode at a moments notice and it's accepted because they're respected and they know their stuff.
Bassett has certain traits they possess and we know he can deliver because of what he did in the SANFL;it worked, it's not an apparition.
Bassett didn't get the new coaching job and I can accept that but to idly dismiss his achievements by stating blandly "Too much is made of turning around a SANFL powerhouse club." It's so disingenuous, he did more than a good job at Norwood,he did a great job.
This board can be very disparaging of anything SANFL but believe me it is the closet step down to the AFL in Australia that there is.
It's football; clubs have the same problems, team structures function the same way, player unrest simmers the same way and it's a result driven competition with the same pressures as anywhere else.
The coaching panel are still trolling their way through the candidates and it appears to be at this stage between Dew, Bolton and Walsh.
Of that lot I have a preference for Walsh because he has survived and thrived in the system for a very long period, is talked about in glowingly terms and he is still in great demand. Bolton and Dew don't appeal to me as much.
I have to hitch my wagon to someone now Bassett's gone. The panel are at least doing an exhaustive hunt and I'm hoping they get it right for our teams sake.