The Sacking of John Cahill

[Winestoppable]

I was only young at the end of the 1998 season and remember being shocked and upset at the sacking of Jack, I only ever knew a Port Adelaide with Jack as coach.

I was hoping those old enough at the time could share some details around his sacking. What were your personal thoughts, was there talk of it happening during the season, was he hard done by, was he given long enough?

I seem to recall it was out of fear of losing Mark Williams to a Victorian club (this seemed be a common theme amongst the years).



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[RangaInTeal]

I was only young at the end of the 1998 season and remember being shocked and upset at the sacking of Jack, I only ever knew a Port Adelaide with Jack as coach.

I was hoping those old enough at the time could share some details around his sacking. What were your personal thoughts, was there talk of it happening during the season, was he hard done by, was he given long enough?

I seem to recall it was out of fear of losing Mark Williams to a Victorian club (this seemed be a common theme amongst the years).



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I thought Williams came here with an understanding that he would take on the role from Jack and after a less than expected ‘98 and with young guns, most notably Tredrea, ready to walk out the door the transition was quicker than the punter may have expected.

RussellEbertHandball or Ford Fairlane may have a better recollection though?

 

[jac147]

I was only young at the end of the 1998 season and remember being shocked and upset at the sacking of Jack, I only ever knew a Port Adelaide with Jack as coach.

I was hoping those old enough at the time could share some details around his sacking. What were your personal thoughts, was there talk of it happening during the season, was he hard done by, was he given long enough?

I seem to recall it was out of fear of losing Mark Williams to a Victorian club (this seemed be a common theme amongst the years).



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My take of the Cahill “sacking” at the of the 1998 season was that Jack accepted his fate in good grace. Whether there was an unwritten understanding that Choco would be coach in 1999, I don’t think there was.
Jack had nearly got the team into the final series in 97 & 98, so his record was good. He also has the record for the first Showdown win. With that being said, I don’t think he saw it coming. A great coach

 

[Prison bar Pete]

My recollection (quite possibly flawed!) was that the 2 year arrangement was in place with Williams to take over in year 3, however at that point Jack wanted to continue. I wanted Jack to keep coaching the team: he was on the right track and had a great record of course. The club wanted Williams for his more modern style of coaching and more recent AFL experience, but for mine he didn't really have the runs on the board and was more of a risk than Jack. Williams got us there in in the end, but I wouldn't mind betting we would have had earlier and more frequent premierships with Jack at the helm. My relationship with footy is more visceral/emotional/vibey than analytical, so I look forward to seeing how REH and other like-minded people respond.

 

[Magpiespowaz]

There was a bit going on that year.

Like the infamous dust-up with Mick Moylan, which played out in public when Jack lost it in front of some TV reporter (Channel 7, I think?) about to do a live cross for the news - he came storming out of Alberton shouting:

"YOU BURNT ME, MICK!"

Both were gone at the end of the year but Moylan came back to Alberton for another stint.

Pretty sure '98 was when Jack and Rooch got into a public slanging match. Jack called him "ferret face" in one interview, lol. Rooch really has been a pissant for a long ass time.

None of that probably would've mattered if we made the finals. But yeah, there was an inevitably about Choco taking over. He was seen to be more in touch with the modern game.

That first year in '97 might be the best coaching Jack ever did. All the "experts" had us dead certs as wooden-spooners, winning four games max. To come so close to making the finals, ugh.

Still, it was such an exciting year...

 

[Interstater]

I just remember it as being a planned thing.

Would have either of them back in a flash.

 

[Grave Danger]

That Showdown I win was classic Cahill coaching - making the players believe they could win when, as G. Cornes might have put it, logic said they had no right. Choco didn't have that magic.

 

[1954]

From memory Choco was given a 5 year contract from day 1 and John Cahill only 2 actual seasons, plus part of 1996 in preparation for the entry, so the writing was on the wall so to speak, but a number of supporters ( including yours truly) that I had contact with at the time weren't over enthusiastic about it.

In my opinion Jack was the equal best coach in the history of the club, and if he had kept the gig for 3 or 4 seasons longer we would have played in more than 1 gf in the early 2000's.

 

[Jojay]

There was a bit going on that year.

Like the infamous dust-up with Mick Moylan, which played out in public when Jack lost it in front of some TV reporter (Channel 7, I think?) about to do a live cross for the news - he came storming out of Alberton shouting:

"YOU BURNT ME, MICK!"

Both were gone at the end of the year but Moylan came back to Alberton for another stint.

Pretty sure '98 was when Jack and Rooch got into a public slanging match. Jack called him "ferret face" in one interview, lol. Rooch really has been a pissant for a long ass time.

None of that probably would've mattered if we made the finals. But yeah, there was an inevitably about Choco taking over. He was seen to be more in touch with the modern game.

That first year in '97 might be the best coaching Jack ever did. All the "experts" had us dead certs as wooden-spooners, winning four games max. To come so close to making the finals, ugh.

Still, it was such an exciting year...

Yeah, it was Max Stevens from Ch7 who broke that story about Jack and Mick Moylan in the carpark.

How ruthless we were back then to move on a legend of the club .... and now here we are allowing a blow-in from Camperdown unwarranted free reign for over a decade. My late father would never have believed it possible.

 

[1954]

That Showdown I win was classic Cahill coaching - making the players believe they could win when, as G. Cornes might have put it, logic said they had no right. Choco didn't have that magic.

I had a discussion in the West Adelaide member's bar in the late 1990's with Doug Thomas about Cahill's ability (`magic' ) to make players believe they were better than they really were, and the first name he mentioned was Adrian Settre, and his multiple crucial goals after coming off the bench in a grand final.

For those who were either not around at the time, or are too young to remember the 90's try to imagine a Sam Gray, Jake Neade, or Jed McEntee doing that in a gf.

 

[Steve Dore]

I was only young at the end of the 1998 season and remember being shocked and upset at the sacking of Jack ...

Jack wasn't sacked. His two year contract ended and Williams took over which had always been the plan.

I guess the club didn't have to worry about "but who are you going to get" back then.

 

[Ford Fairlane]

My recollection is the same as others here. I expected Williams to take over after Jack's second year. I didn't think there was any great drama at the handover and Jack remains strongly connected to the club.

As I recall Choco acted like he had already taken over during 1998. He had certainly added some of his ideas to Jack's blueprint.

 

[Ford Fairlane]

I had a discussion in the West Adelaide member's bar in the late 1990's with Doug Thomas about Cahill's ability (`magic' ) to make players believe they were better than they really were, and the first name he mentioned was Adrian Settre, and his multiple crucial goals after coming off the bench in a grand final.

For those who were either not around at the time, or are too young to remember the 90's try to imagine a Sam Gray, Jake Neade, or Jed McEntee doing that in a gf.

Hollywood!

 

[Willsy10]

I didn't actually realise it was a sacking, i thought it was a natural pre planned handover? And it was pretty seamless from memory, although i was pretty young at the time so my recollection isn't great. Definitely didn't have any Malthouse/Buckley bones about it.

Jack was the perfect coach for those first couple of years, 1997 was an amazing season. 10 and 7 after just thumping the Bombers at the MCG on the big friday night stage, firmly entrenched in the top 8 and only 1 game outside the top 4. We only needed 1 win from the last 5 and we ended up with a draw and 4 losses, which included being overrun by the crows in the last quarter after holding a handy 3/4 lead in showdown 2. We just ran out of puff, but what a year it was looking back on it now.

 

[DSL64]

As others have said, it technically wasn't a sacking - he just wasn't reappointed at the end of his contract.
Although I think it could've been handled better. I remember JC saying in an interview later that he wished he was told earlier, as he would've like his family there at his last game.

Another side bit, I attended Tredders testimonial, and they were interviewing him.
He basically said if JC was re-appointed, he was off to Carlton. Apparently JC didn't think much of Tredders as a player, and it was only the smooth talking of Choco (I think he said something like Choco said CHF was his to lose) that convinced him to knock back Carlton's offer and stay at Port.

Now, that would've been a dark day.

 

[JimmyBC]

It was the right call imo Jack is old school & Choco (love or hate him) was a bit of a pioneer in modern stats analysis, tactics, skills coaching etc. it had gone past rev ups & running through brickwalls.

I'm sure had we entered with the first bid Jack would've had probably 4 or 5 years though.

 

[GoPorts]

I don't understand the title. How do you sack a coach?

 

[Powerade 08]

Sack Hinkley

 

[RussellEbertHandball]

I thought Williams came here with an understanding that he would take on the role from Jack and after a less than expected ‘98 and with young guns, most notably Tredrea, ready to walk out the door the transition was quicker than the punter may have expected.

RussellEbertHandball or Ford Fairlane may have a better recollection though?

I lived on the GC first half of 97 then returned to Sydney so a lot of what I got from the first 2 or 3 years was second hand as not a hell of a lot of media re AFL at the time got to the northern states.

I have also spoken to a few people in the know about the early years, the last decade or so since I have been living back in SA.

Jack was always going to coach for a few years and Choco would then take over. The issue was how long for?

Bucky tells that story that when they went to Choco to get him to leave Essendon, he wanted a 10 year deal as he thought that's how long it would take for Port to win its first flag. Bucky laughed it off and offered him either 3 or 4 years knowing he would be coach by or before the end of that period.

Port did unbelievably well in 1997, a slightly stacked home game first half of the year helped, but 4 out of the last 6 were away games at the end, meant we were pushing s**t uphill to make finals.

The classic Port expectation was we would improve in 1998 and play finals, but it didn't happen. Jack had several off field issues that didn't endear him to the board and even Bucky knew the game was changing and tactically Jack wasn't keeping up. Jack like all coaches had his favourites, and when success doesn't come automatically, it stands out and questions asked. Tredders wasn't happy that Jack played Poole and a couple of others before he got regular games. That's why he threatened to walk out, as he didn't get along with Jack.

When Jack found out he wasn't going to get an extension, he decided to target someone to take out his frustrations on. That someone was Footy Ops GM Mick Moylan who hadn't done anything wrong. But there was a PR game being played, Jack made things worse for himself by having a public slinging match. The natural line for the average Port fan to take was bloody hell, Jack must be right. Rucci started writing stuff about Jack and questioning his actions and Jack went off at him. I don't know if Rucci was getting feed stuff from the club, but given how AFL footy politics works, it wouldn't surprise me.

Moylan became a sacrificial lamb but after 12 or 15 months away from the club he was brought back in senior roles because he was a good operator, and he left the club after the 2006 first super draft where he/we drafted Boak, Stewart, Gray, Hoff and Rodan, all 100+ game players for Port plus Krakouer and Ryan Williams.

Compare Mick's parting gift to the club compared to Alan Stewart in 2004 - Adam Thomson, Ryan Willits, James Ezard, Fabian Deluca and Ben Eckermann and Stewart is hailed as some genius.

 

[Winganeen]

Hate to bring it up but I think there were some gambling issues at hand also?
He also tried to sell the "playbook" ?

Jack was always my favorite, I miss those days.

 

[Grave Danger]

Jack did mention quite recently that 8 or 9 years or so might be the shelf life for a coach, especially if you hadn't had success, and by that time he found that he was probably starting to outstay his welcome with the board - that's about how long his coaching stints with PAFC were, albeit supremely successful.

 

[yepits2020]

My recollection was that it was planned and Cahill there to deal with the first difficult years. But Cahill exceeded all expectations. It would not surprise me if Cahill thought he had a case to continue as head coach and I personally would have supported it. I think that Cahill did not leave as gracious as has been previously stated, and it would not surprise me if he was annoyed. Williams always looked impatient to take over and that was not flattering to the situation.

 

[Enviable Tradition]

There was a bit going on that year.

Like the infamous dust-up with Mick Moylan, which played out in public when Jack lost it in front of some TV reporter (Channel 7, I think?) about to do a live cross for the news - he came storming out of Alberton shouting:

"YOU BURNT ME, MICK!"

Both were gone at the end of the year but Moylan came back to Alberton for another stint.

Pretty sure '98 was when Jack and Rooch got into a public slanging match. Jack called him "ferret face" in one interview, lol. Rooch really has been a pissant for a long ass time.

None of that probably would've mattered if we made the finals. But yeah, there was an inevitably about Choco taking over. He was seen to be more in touch with the modern game.

That first year in '97 might be the best coaching Jack ever did. All the "experts" had us dead certs as wooden-spooners, winning four games max. To come so close to making the finals, ugh.

Still, it was such an exciting year...

Amd now Rucci is on the inside and Jack is just more outside noise.

Says it all.

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[Winestoppable]

Thanks for the responses. I would loved to have seen Cahill get at least one more year just to see what could have been.

I always pictured Moylan as the villain and that Jack could do no wrong. Interesting to read others take on the topic.

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[Macca19]

I dont remember it being an agreed handover. Not at the end of 98 anyway.

I also remember the Mick Moylan drama happening in 97, not 98 as well