Newly Appointed coach of the Western Bulldogs Brendan McCartney, poses for a photo after a media conference announcing his appointment by the club, at Whitten Oval in Melbourne. Slattery Images
Fremantle have Ross Lyon. Melbourne have Mark Neeld. The Western Bulldogs have Brendan McCartney. Adelaide have Brenton Sanderson. For those keeping score at home, that’s four coaching appointments in the space of four days.
It’s been an unbelievable few days.
How bizarre it is that every single one of the coaches that led teams to last year’s top six – Malthouse, Lyon, Thompson, Eade, Roos, Harvey – will no longer be in those same jobs a little over one year later.
But let’s focus on the recent appointments and in particular, given everyone has already had their say on the Fremantle situation, the three fresh faces to AFL senior coaching ranks.
Neeld looks like a nice fit for the Demons. There was a lot of talk that the club should’ve gone after an experienced coach after having Dean Bailey in charge.
However, it was easy to warm to Neeld with his desire to make the Demons the toughest opponent to play against in the AFL. “Bruise-free footy” that ain’t.
While his playing career didn’t reach any great heights, his time at Collingwood is worth making a note of.
He was in charge of the backline in 2009, when the Pies conceded the third-least points in the league.
In 2010 he moved to the midfield, a season where two Pie midfielders (Dane Swan and Scott Pendlebury) finished in the Brownlow top five and the team as a whole won the flag.
Last night, coincidentally, three of his midfielders were named in this year’s All-Australian team.
At the Bulldogs, McCartney achieved the rare feat of being appointed senior coach despite never having played an AFL game. To compensate, though, he has served a 20-year apprenticeship working his way through coaching ranks, spent mostly at Geelong.
Hawthorn assistant, and former Bulldog player and assistant, Leon Cameron was considered to be the overwhelming favourite for the job, so you know McCartney did a mighty job of impressing the club’s hierarchy.
One thing you suspect about McCartney, that you don’t necessarily associate with either Neeld or Sanderson, is that he’s been through the entire cycle of a list build. You could look at it a different way and say the other two have come on the scene and had an instant impact – and that may be true – but McCartney’s history is worth noting.
It certainly can’t hurt the Bulldogs considering they’re close to – if not already at – the beginning of a rebuild.
Last night, Sanderson’s name was added to the list of new coaches, beating out Scott Burns for the Crows job. (Burns, from a few reports, virtually had the job but felt he was not ready to be a senior coach.)
A South Australian, Sanderson spent a year as Port Adelaide’s development coach before moving back to the club he spent most of his playing career at, Geelong.
Like McCartney, Sanderson was part of the 2007 and 2009 premierships. In fact, 2007 was Sanderson’s first year at the club as an assistant (which surely looked good on the resume).
Sanderson had the most illustrious playing career of the three, claiming the 2001 best and fairest at the Cats. He was also joined the Crows in their inaugural year in 1991.
So which club made the right call?
Well, it’s simply impossible right now to tell. All of the coaches have credentials that look good on paper, and those that fronted the media said the right things.
What we do know, though, is that three quality assistant coaches are now out of St Kilda’s reach as the club grapples with being the latecomer to the coaching hunt.
That the (seemingly) next best qualified assistant, West Coast’s Burns, doesn’t think he’s ready makes the situation even worse.
You suspect this might lead the Saints to look at an experienced coach.
Reportedly they’ve already met with Dean Laidley, and Rodney Eade would have to be on their radar. Even Mark Harvey – as crazy as the thought of a “coaching swap” might be – is deserving of consideration, if he’s interested.
I wasn’t too keen on the idea of the Dees, Dogs or Crows signing an experienced coach, but with the Saints there are two factors that make them a different proposition. The first, as mentioned, is the fact the coaching market has already been thoroughly searched by three competing clubs.
The second is that the Saints have been through plenty of turmoil on and off the field in recent times and at this point in time, a tough and uncompromising coach (preferably someone who’s been there and done that) doesn’t seem like such a bad fit.
CAREER PATHS OF NEW AFL COACHES
Mark Neeld (Melbourne)
Playing career
– 1990-93: Geelong (48 games)
– 1994-96: Richmond (26 games)Coaching career
– 1997-99: Old Geelong (two years as captain/coach, one as coach)
– 2000-03: Ocean Grove (including four premierships)
– 2004: St Joseph’s
– 2005-07: Western Jets
– 2008-11: Collingwood assistant coach (including one premiership)Brendan McCartney (Western Bulldogs)
Playing career
– 87 games for Geelong Football League club NewtownCoaching career
– 1992: Newtown reserves
– 1993-97 Ocean Grove (including four premierships)
– 1998-99: Richmond reserves
– 2000-10: Geelong assistant coach (including two premierships)
– 2011: Essendon assistant coachBrenton Sanderson (Adelaide)
Playing career
– 1992-93: Adelaide (6 games)
– 1994: Collingwood (4 games)
– 1995-05: Geelong (199 games, including ’01 best and fairest)Coaching career
– 2006: Port Adelaide development coach
– 2007-11: Geelong assistant coach (including two premierships)
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