Amidst the fanfare and white smoke of the Michael Voss appointment, some small murmurings could be read wondering if all that glitters could turn to gold. No one has had a more illustrious career than Voss, but as we all know, that doesn’t always translate to being a successful coach.
In the modern day AFL, there seems to be a process when it comes to being a head coach: you become an assistant coach at one of the sixteen clubs and from there you graduate to the top spot.
AFL clubs are even happy to appoint someone who hasn’t had a distinguished playing career as long as they have been through this, such as Neil Craig, Wayne Brittain, Jeff Gieschen and Grant Thomas
Only two AFL coaches don’t satisfy these criteria.
The first is Michael Malthouse, who is grandfathered from this. And now Voss.
After two spectacular busts in the late 90s, the book seemed to be closed on former players beginning their coaching career at the top.
Exhibit A is Tony Shaw.
The Premiership winning captain, Norm Smith medalist and two time Copeland Trophy winner is Collingwood through and through.
With impeccable bloodlines, this was very much an old-school appointment but on-field it was a disaster.
For just the second time in the Magpies history they went four years without making the finals and when they won just their second wooden spoon enough was enough.
For a club with such a proud history who was used to being at the other end of the ladder this was too much to bear and Shaw and his 30-58 record were gone.
St Kilda went the same route when they appointed Tim Watson at the end of the 1998 season but Watson was reckoned to a different creature to Shaw.
Watson as we all know had a spectacular career. He began as a 15 year old and won two flags with the Baby Bombers before coming out of retirement and winning a third with the Baby Bombers Mark II.
From there he went straight into the media and stayed there until St Kilda came knocking on his door to replace Stan Alves. The Saints had just been knocked out of the finals after having made the Grand Final the year before.
With Robert Harvey having just picked up his second consecutive Brownlow medal surely success was imminent and Timmy the one to turn Moorabbin into the promised land?
The first year they finished with a 10-12 record which translated to a game and percentage outside the finals. The next year they went into freefall and 2-19-1.
After that, it was thought the door had been firmly shut on hiring coaches with no assistant coaching experience; that was until now.
Voss was going down the conventional path as an assistant with the West Coast Eagles but then it became a case of now or never when the Lions’ position became available. So now it is up to Voss to defy history and show that it can be done.
According to Kevin Sheedy, “You need two years, even three, as an assistant coach before taking on a senior gig.”
But if anyone can defy convention it is Voss.
Anyone who saw the incident when he horrifically broke his leg would have wondered if he could have ever run again, let alone play football, let alone lead his side to three successive premierships.
In any event, the whole relationship between a coach and his players and how that affects performance is a complex one.
Yes the coach doesn’t go out there and kick the ball or lay a tackle. But yet something has to be said for the records of coaches such as Paul Roos and Malthouse, and before them, Tom Hafey, Allen Jeans, and Ron Barassi.
For someone like Voss, coaching seems a natural move, but it won’t come easy.
As a player he was used to leading by his actions and now all he can do is talk.
He may find it frustrating when players with lesser football brains make mistakes he considers simply incomprehensible.
Good luck to the champion. He has overcome far tougher already, and if anyone can actually pull it off, it is him.
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