Worst coach sacking in VFL/AFL history

[manicmagpie]

This is the one I will never understand. I follow the argument about succession plans and Collingwood rating Buckling as a future premiership coach, but at the time Collingwood had won the 2010 flag and were the best team in the AFL. Why on earth would you even consider changing the coach?

Can never prove it, and the Geelong fans have every right to disagree, but IMHO I believe the turmoil within the club probably cost them the 2011 flag, and who knows after that?

I also believe the worst appointment was Carlton taking on Malthouse who wanted to coach for all the wrong reasons. I feel he wanted to coach against Collingwood for revenge, rather than FOR Carlton.

At the time the succession plan was put in place, it was mid 2009 and Malthouse was pretty much in the position Ken Hinkley is in now. He held the record for being at a single club the longest without winning a flag.

The succession plan lit a fire under him and we actually went out and fixed the holes in our best 22 and won a flag. If the plan cost us getting another it was just as responsible for us getting one in the first place.

On a positive note, the sackings of Tony Shaw and Nathan Buckley were both handled in the absolute best way possible. With Bucks we even made sure we wouldn't fall into the trap of making the temp coach permanent by appointing the god awful Robert Harvey so that we didn't get a dead cat bounce.

 

[timokane]

malthouse/buckley saga cost pies 8 years of pain or even 10 years

 

[PhatBoy]

This is the one I will never understand. I follow the argument about succession plans and Collingwood rating Buckley as a future premiership coach, but at the time Collingwood had won the 2010 flag and were the best team in the AFL. Why on earth would you even consider changing the coach?

Can never prove it, and the Geelong fans have every right to disagree, but IMHO I believe the turmoil within the club probably cost them the 2011 flag, and who knows after that?

I also believe the worst appointment was Carlton taking on Malthouse who wanted to coach for all the wrong reasons. I feel he wanted to coach against Collingwood for revenge, rather than FOR Carlton.

I think we were simply the one team that were actually good enough to take advantage of it. That Collingwood team had the competition at their mercy.

 

[Grand Uncle Horace]

The Norm Smith sacking was truly bizarre as was the botched rehiring. It really needs a class struggle lens to interpret what happened.

Despite his extraordinary coaching record at Melbourne, getting South into Finals in 1970 may have been his greatest achievement.

Incidentally he loved his time at South and felt much more at home there.

The effective sacking of Malthouse for NNF by McGuire proved an unmitigated disaster for the Pies.

 

[Gordon Farkas]

Alan Joyce is a strange one. 1993 and done to save money. Cant be because he won two premierships and played finals 1993

Then went to bulldogs and was white anted by terry Wallace and mates. All documented in ‘year of the dog’

Terry Wallet was rewarded for his white-anting by being given the job to replace Joyce. Go figure.

He then returned the favour by quitting the Dogs before the end of the 2002 season in the hope of getting the Sydney job, for which he had been self-promoting. Swans saw though him and appointed Roos instead. An excellent example of the “No Dickheads” policy in action.

 

[ferrisb]

Also while not technically a sacking North apparently lowballing Pagan to the point he walked away was pretty poor. 2 flags in 3 years and 7 straight prelims, should have paid him what he wanted. He's on record as saying he would have preferred to stay.

Carlton supporters wish he'd stayed at North too...

 

[ferrisb]

Wish we could go back in time and let Malthouse continue to coach the Pies to know for certain, but I don’t think he gets a second flag.

Carlton supporters wish he'd stayed at the Pies too...

 

[ferrisb]

Is there a thread for the worst coach appointment in VFL/AFL history?

Asking for a friend's team...

 

[uranium_death]

Tom Hafey, Tony Jewell and John Northey

Northey wasn't sacked.
He had a year to run, wanted an extension and Leon Daphne refused, so he went to Brisbane

Richmond was idiotic to not provide Northey with an extension. The players were loyal to him.

 

[uranium_death]

Alan Joyce is a strange one. 1993 and done to save money. Cant be because he won two premierships and played finals 1993

Then went to bulldogs and was white anted by terry Wallace and mates. All documented in ‘year of the dog’

The players didn't like him. Gary Ayres and Alan Joyce fell out, as did many others.
Hawthorn was in a terrible place at the time, but compare the loyalty between the players between Allan Jeans, then Alan Joyce, and it's chalk and cheese.

The only player I've ever heard state appreciation for Joyce is Andrew Gowers.

 

[HairyO]

The players didn't like him. Gary Ayres and Alan Joyce fell out, as did many others.
Hawthorn was in a terrible place at the time, but compare the loyalty between the players between Allan Jeans, then Alan Joyce, and it's chalk and cheese.

The only player I've ever heard state appreciation for Joyce is Andrew Gowers.

Anyone replacing Jeans waa going to fall short. Despite how much success Joyce had.

 

[gungho]

Damien Drum being told be a journo that he'd been sacked in an interview was pretty painful viewing. He genuinely had no idea.

 

[the harry]

Saw this thread and thought heads had rolled somewhere

 

[Butters and Pepper]

Ken Hinkley, because it hasn't happened yet, but when it does it will be 5-10-15-20-25 years too late.

 

[MisterMarcus]

Another one was Stan Alves after the 1998 AFL finals series. Saints made a GF in 1997 and played finals in '98.

I've read Alves' autobiography. He paints a picture of a board that never really wanted him or supported him, and were just itching for an excuse to get rid of him.

According to Alves:

* Some at St Kilda just saw him as a stopgap for Trevor Barker, and only reluctantly accepted him as permanent coach because Barker got ill and died.

* Alves introduced a whole bunch of Mind-Body-Spirit stuff like meditation and psychology that are common now, but were seen as bizarre voodoo nonsense at the time.

* St Kilda's chronic underachievement had led to a massive bunker mentality and CYA attitude. Players, coaches, and board members always had the knives out and were quick to sacrifice others to protect themselves.

* Winning the 1996 pre-season cup caused a lot of jealousy and bitchiness among the older guard ("Why does he get the success when we just endured failure our whole careers" kind of stuff).

* St Kilda had an unspoken rule of not criticising 'star players'. Alves ignored this and gave 'stars' a rev-up or bollocking when needed just like any other player.

* Alves got tired of the political internal BS and basically ignored the board and powerbrokers as much as possible. Apparently they then all got pissy and felt disrespected.

All of this gives the impression that Alves was sacked out of pure spite, not because of any footballing reason.

 

[maskmcgee]

Matthew Knights

Matthew Knights

Age

53

Ht

178cm

Wt

79kg

Pos.

Mid

Career

Season

Last 5

D

21.3

5star

K

12.0

4star

HB

9.3

5star

M

3.0

3star

T

2.2

4star

No current season stats available

D

18.4

5star

K

10.8

4star

HB

7.6

5star

M

4.4

4star

T

1.6

4star

 

[Hawksboy72]

The late Ken Judge should've been given more time at Hawthorn.
Came in to a club with no money and on the verge of extinction was building a good young list and was shafted because somebody on the board didn't like him and wanted Peter Schwab.

On SM-S918B using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Hawksboy72]

I've read Alves' autobiography. He paints a picture of a board that never really wanted him or supported him, and were just itching for an excuse to get rid of him.

According to Alves:

* Some at St Kilda just saw him as a stopgap for Trevor Barker, and only reluctantly accepted him as permanent coach because Barker got ill and died.

* Alves introduced a whole bunch of Mind-Body-Spirit stuff like meditation and psychology that are common now, but were seen as bizarre voodoo nonsense at the time.

* St Kilda's chronic underachievement had led to a massive bunker mentality and CYA attitude. Players, coaches, and board members always had the knives out and were quick to sacrifice others to protect themselves.

* Winning the 1996 pre-season cup caused a lot of jealousy and bitchiness among the older guard ("Why does he get the success when we just endured failure our whole careers" kind of stuff).

* St Kilda had an unspoken rule of not criticising 'star players'. Alves ignored this and gave 'stars' a rev-up or bollocking when needed just like any other player.

* Alves got tired of the political internal BS and basically ignored the board and powerbrokers as much as possible. Apparently they then all got pissy and felt disrespected.

All of this gives the impression that Alves was sacked out of pure spite, not because of any footballing reason.

I was told that a few saints players hit a massive powerball win and lived the high life and forgot to train for a few months.

On SM-S918B using BigFooty.com mobile app

 

[Rich01]

Matthew Knights

Another victim of Kevin Sheedy and his penchant for playing favourites.

 

[austinnn]

Just about every St Kilda sacking since the AFL began in 1990 is equal worst, each for their own breathtaking reasons.

Ok, so tell me why the sackings of Tim Watson, Malcolm Blight, Scott Watters and Alan Richardson were bad - apart from the concession that they should have happened a lot earlier.

Ratten's sacking was only bad because his contract had just been extended - that was the error, the sacking was the necessary correction.

 

[GoldbergsGold]

Malthouse was pretty much in the position Ken Hinkley is in now.

They're not comparable, Malthouse was already a 2 time premiership coach, with 5 grand final appearances, 2 of which were with Collingwood. Whereas Hinkley has no history of coaching in a grand final, isn't under any succession plan and Kenny has already surpassed the time it took Malthouse to coach that 2010 premiership from the time he started coaching Collingwood.

 

[GoldbergsGold]

Ok, so tell me why the sackings of Tim Watson, Malcolm Blight, Scott Watters and Alan Richardson were bad - apart from the concession that they should have happened a lot earlier.

Ratten's sacking was only bad because his contract had just been extended - that was the error, the sacking was the necessary correction.

Grant Thomas was disappointed that Blight was sacked, he was instrumental in getting him to St Kilda and he thought he could have coached St Kilda to a premiership, even though Thomas is blamed for his sacking for some reason (because management made Thomas take over coaching St Kilda?). Although, he dismissed Richardson and suggested Clarkson should have been coaching St Kilda.

 

[MisterMarcus]

Weren't there stories about Malcom Blight not even moving down from Queensland until halfway through the pre-season, or just not turning up to training and stuff?

I thought that was the narrative - nobody doubted his pure coaching ability, St Kilda just felt he wasn't 100% committed, was just doing it for the money, or had weird unconventional ideas that they didn't agree with.

 

[BlakeyNoFlakey]

At the Cats, I'd say Tom Hafey. He was an excellent coach, but the Geelong Board was full of pig-ignorant infighting morons, all trying to stick their noses in where it wasn't needed for the sake of ego and bombast. All trying to big-note themselves as important people around Geelong. To make matters worse, Hafey took Greg Williams with him to Sydney, who left because the same stupid board refused to give Williams a $5000 pay rise. Greg Williams became one of the best midfielders ever to play the game. In Hafey's place, they appointed ex-player John Devine (a Geelong man), who just brought mediocrity back to the club.

 

[marcus1232]

There is really no other answer to this question than Norm Smith. Flags in 55, 56, 57, 59, 60, 64. Second on the ladder in 65 and sacked halfway through season. Dees go on to miss the finals and wait 57 years for another flag.

From a Saints perspective, Stan Alves was pretty baffling.

In Stan Alves book he says that the job he had was always meant to be Trevor Barkers and he at times felt the club was still grieving from his death and he always felt his days were numbered.

Malcolm Blight never really wanted the job but was happy to take the money.

Grant Thomas sacking was all political crap.

Watters was unfit to be an AFL coach.

The Ratten one while brutal was necessary for the club to make.