David Parkin coached many great sides throughout his career. However, he once said his greatest achievement as a coach was lifting the Fitzroy football from ninth to third in 1986, given the relative mediocrity of their list.
Like many among his coaching brethren he argued that a coach cannot work miracles to win a flag.
Coaches are a tragic lot in many ways.
While many players from clubs languishing at the bottom of the table are sometimes seen as shining lights or diamonds in the rough, the coach can rarely separate himself from a team that is anchored to the bottom of the ladder.
It’s no surprise that many of them can be as friendly with the media as a prisoner with a firing squad.
Mark Neeld may think that the press may as well be wearing black caps already.
It is clear that some in the press are screaming for change in the Melbourne hierarchy.
David King has claimed that Neeld should never have been appointed as it is clear his game plan does not sync with the Melbourne list.
Alastair Lynch wondered if the selection of two 22-year old captains has led to disinterest from the senior group.
But Neeld wasn’t the only person to have coached Melbourne to come under criticism during the week.
Collingwood ruckman Darren Jolly, musing on the concept of coaching, claimed in his Age column that former Melbourne coach Neale Daniher was not very inspiring and unable to engage with player concerns.
These comments created a backlash among the coaching association, who believed that Jolly’s article was digging up old skeletons, as well as not acknowledging that Daniher was the man who gave Jolly his first opportunities at AFL level.
Nor did Jolly mention that in Daniher’s 10-year tenure as coach of Melbourne, the Demons reached the finals six times and the grand final in 2000.
But was it right for Jolly to drag his grievances with a past coach back into the spotlight after all these years, particularly when the person in question is still involved in a football department (Daniher currently works with West Coast)?
Furthermore, is the idea of player-coach relationships the responsibility of just the coach or should the players take some responsibility?
Jolly claims that Daniher was hard to gain a rapport with, but was there no way for Jolly to communicate this with him?
A coach needs to look after the team as a whole; perhaps the players should be able to show them some flexibility, should they have any individual concerns.
Whatever the reasons for his comments, it must be said that Jolly almost certainly did not mean them out of malice towards Daniher.
But Darren Jolly should take heed of the fact that when Daniher had too many bad seasons at Melbourne, he was sacked.
Despite the fact that they have had four mediocre seasons and another sacked coach since, a fair few players still remain.
Toa
Guest
Baldrick article and those with similar flavours provide a sense of calmness when losing becomes a habit and patience is often neglected. Sportfans are forever living in the moment its magnified by highly paid critics assisted by a pre determined script to fuel the situation. Articles of similar nature have been written in the last week and you'll notice the responses accommodating those opinions have been minimal Why? Like all critics they'll raise the problems stand back and witness the collapse then return later to repeat the cycle. The level of replies to these articles suggest nobody wants to be part of a problem rather challenge other debates where winning is easier. I couldn't help laugh at the ever critical Tony Shaw who's targets are commonly directed at young inexperience rookies insinuates Gary Abeltt frustrations directed at Rory Thomson should have been less appropriate......Yep hypocrisy it its purest form.
sheek
Guest
Baldrick, Good article. It's one of the conundrums of sport, isn't it - How much does the coach influence the team, & how much does the team influence the coach? Like most things, the truth oscillates around the middle depending in turn, on the quality of the coach, or the quality of the players. The great rugby league coach Jack Gibson cut his teeth as a coach, when in his very first season, he lifted Easts to 4th position in 1967, who had failed to win a match in the entire 1966 season. That was a mighty effort. Gibson won premierships with Easts in 1974/75 & Parramatta 1981-83, but apart from his first stint with Easts in 1967/68 (twice 4th), perhaps his other great achievement was to replicate Parkin's achievement by lifting Newtown to 3rd in 1973. In the previous 6 seasons Newtown had never been higher than 8th (out of 12). For all his greatness,things didn't always go Gibson's way. He was sacked as Cronulla's coach in the mid-1980s, & his two year stint as NSW SOO coach in 1988/89 was abysmal - one win from 6 games. So it's very true no matter how good a coach may be perceived to be, he does need the cattle. And you're right, a good coach looks after his players. He also cuts his cloth according to the material available. A smart coach looks at his team list, then devises the strategy & tactics according to the talents available.