The end of the season is a time for the coaching staff to review the playing list, but this off-season has seen a complete role reversal, with club boards receiving player feedback on what they did and more importantly didn’t like about their coach.
While this form of feedback is not new in any workplace, it can become a dangerous practice within a sporting club.
It needs to be very carefully managed, otherwise it could become a case of the tail wagging the dog.
An AFL coach has to manage around 45 different egos and personalities, ensuring all feel respected and cared for, while also providing the honest feedback required to improve their individual output.
Couple with this the relationships required with other assistant coaches and major stakeholders in the club, and coaching soon becomes a very taxing position with excellent communication skills required.
In order to provide a united front and ensure that the coach is given every opportunity to succeed the board must be completely confident they have the right man, and in recent times player murmurings at some clubs have provided the final siren on some coaching careers.
This spring we have seen a number of clubs rightly or wrongly stand by their coaches, some have had stern internal reviews and survived, while others have not been so lucky.
The Adelaide Crows and Gold Coast Suns both seemingly sacked their coach after the playing group lost confidence in them. While board and supporter unrest is a common trigger for a coach parting ways with a club, rarely does a playing group dictate who it wants in charge, so it was surprising that it has happened twice in a matter of weeks.
That both coaches were ousted before even James Hird (we will get to him shortly) is incredible and shows the power that the senior players at both clubs wield.
In both cases it may be the correct decision and in seasons to come changing the coach now may end up a master stroke, but surely in both instances the coaches seem to have taken far too much responsibility for the side’s failings.
Brenton Sanderson at the Crows was within a kick of a grand final in 2012, while Guy McKenna has improved the results for the Gold Coast every year he has been in charge and made a genuine run at the finals this time around. Was it easier for the boards to simply take the word of the players and end the coach’s tenure rather than deal with a miss-firing playing list? Have these two boards taken the easy way out?
The Essendon and Hird saga rumbles on. It’s an outlier in the scheme of things as never before has an AFL coach subjected his club, players and supporters to this level of anger, frustration or held them in such contempt. Clearly he is a dead man walking and surely his position has become untenable.
There has been speculation around Brendan McCarthy at the Bulldogs, and talk of a fallout between Nathan Buckley and his players at Collingwood.
The rumblings at the Bulldogs, much like the Crows and Suns, started discontent among a number of senior players. Interestingly though, the board have gone the other way and decided to back the coach and give him the opportunity to improve his coaching style in 2015.
Buckley too has received unanimous support from the board and some of the playing group following a fallout over the past two years with a number of premiership stars who have since been moved on. In this instance the club has backed their coach completely and charged him with removing the players who he believes are hindering the club’s progression, which is the complete opposite of how the boards on the Gold Coast and Adelaide acted.
Sometimes honest player feedback can work to a club’s advantage – it famously did back in 2006 when Mark ‘Bomber’ Thompson and his playing group spoke some home truths about where each needed to get better. While it was very raw it had the desired result, with Thompson becoming a much better man manager while the playing group lifted their own work rate and intensity, which led to three premiership flags.
There is no set formula when it comes to hiring and firing coaches and it is a fine line sometimes between making the harsh call that works, like Fremantle did with Mark Harvey, or perhaps making the coach the fall guy for any number of internal problems.
But stability at any club is critical and boards need to make sure that the right decision is made, not the easy one.
glidagida
Guest
Hi Vocans The post was not done emotionally and was composed quite logically as perhaps the calculated success rates might show. You are right, I do not see the special damage to the Crows brand as this sort of thing happens all the time in the AFL, and even at the Crows, remember Craigy being sacked after his promotion to a 'staff' coach? Many others; Matthew Knight - Essendon, Harvey for Lyons at Freo, Rodney Eade - Bulldogs, Voss - Lions? This is just part of the culture today. Check out: CHRIS DE KRETSER HERALD SUN OCTOBER 01, 2014 6:00PM. There were other similar reports at the time. The fans disappointment was very real, please check out the Adelaide Crows forum on BIG FOOTY around March 2014 and you will see for yourself with posts titled in the first 6 posts on just one page: Dark times ahead if no changes are made The Good, The Bad and The Ugly Accepting mediocrity Illustrating my frustration Although these are not 'official' sources any coach should take notice of supporter feedback. I like most of these guys see the Crows football brand being tarnished by becoming AFL 'easy beats' than cutting an under performing coach. I was taking issue with the press and the current writer blaming the players for Sanderson's sacking, there was a far broader group of disappointed people, the Board's review simply picked up on that. It is simply unfair to blame the players, especially when the captain has come out to publicly refute the idea this article promotes, see: "We support coach sacking: Crows skipper" - AFL News 19/9/2014 at 2:35pm.
Jake
Guest
Get off it. Sanderson got whacked. Lost first 2 draft picks over the Tippet trade, lost Tippet the previous year leading goal scorer and Davis at the start of his tenure and Walker (twice leading club goal scorer last two years ) out for the year with a knee. You deal that to any coach and they'd struggle. 3 young, tall and very talented key players gone and an empty 2013 draft! Where was the board during that?!? I hope Adelaide struggle and have to lie in the filthy bed they made, can see why Dangerfield may leave. Spoilt players, tipped off a decent coach that's had rotten luck.
vocans
Guest
I deplore the lack of transparency over this. Trust levels fall when things are hidden. Glidagida likes the outcome so doesn't feel the tarnishing of the Crows 'brand'. Sanderson underwent the usual end of season review which many coaches pass through, so it's too much to say he should have known simply because there was this review. I'll put that down to glidagida's emotion. The rest of what you say is not official with the exception of a 'communication' issue. It may turn out all right for the Crows (I hope so), but it leaves a bad taste in the mouth.
glidagida
Guest
I think you are wrong, very wrong. The sacking of Brenton Sanderson was long overdue and was driven in part by the Board and in part by the true' Crows football fans' [not the 'Crows chardonnay set'], and the players simply added weight to a conclusion which was facing those who wanted a competitive team and not a social club. Simply the Adelaide Crows management had lost their way, lost their focus on what was most important, the Football, the Team and the Premiership. Brenton Sanderson was not the sole reason for the Crows brilliant 2012 season, but Dean Bailey was a major factor. Without Bailey Sanderson has been mediocre yet he was rewarded with a 2 year contract extension for finishing 11th on the recommendation of the CEO. Surely that is a very unusual situation, but Sanderson was a handsome young man with a nice smile who kept the Chardonnay grannies paying their fees. However he was not a brilliant football coach. With Bailey in 2012 the Crows won 17/22 matches for a 77% winning record. Largely without Bailey in 2013/2014 Sanderson coached 21 wins out of 44 for a 48% record. Thank goodness for Mark Ricciuto, for someone that has a passion for football and thank goodness he joined the Crows Board. Like a lot of passionate Crows 'football fans' he didn't like what he saw in the fitness, the skills, the mental preparation and the inconsistency. Michelangelo Rucci the journo who seems to know the pulse at Adelaide recently pointed to all the layers of the club player/staff/fans and that there was disenchantment with Sanderson. He stated the outcome of the Team Review was predictable, that is, that Sanderson had to go. To me any coach who says he is totally surprised at losing his job when a Football Department review is instigated is a little naive. I along with a number of Crows fans believe he should have gone 12 months ago. With a new CEO, a new Coach and a new 'footified' attitude on the Crows Board perhaps the disappointed fan base can get back to enjoying some on-field success.
Faz
Guest
"The Adelaide Crows and Gold Coast Suns both seemingly sacked their coach after the playing group lost confidence in them". Seemingly? Even giving this the status of speculation is way more than it deserves, but, undeterred, you go on ... "... rarely does a playing group dictate who it wants in charge, so it was surprising that it has happened twice in a matter of weeks." From 'seemingly' to 'dictated'? Pulleeese!
Olivia Watts
Roar Guru
Players cannot sack a coach but their feedback can lead to a Board taking that option. Geelong showed with Mark Thompson that a negative review need not lead to a sacked coach if lines of communication are facilitated and chance made in those areas requiring it. Geelong then went on to have its most successful era, Faced with what we must assume to be a similarly negative review, and based on information to which the rest of us are not privy, the Adelaide Board has chosen a different response. Only time will now tell if that decision was wisely undertaken. With no criticism of PHIL Davis intended, he has never struck me as being a comfortable orator, someone who can lift and motivate a group through his words and personality. For the sake of the Adelaide football club I hope he proves me wrong.
langou
Roar Guru
A good end of season review involves talking to all stakeholders and then making a decision. If when speaking to the players something of concern is raised it should be taken into account.
Gecko
Guest
Have any new details emerged about the specific weaknesses of McKenna or the specific act/s that got Sanderson sacked, or about which specific players were complaining? As regards McCartney, if it was lazy types like Shaun Higgins who were upset, I can understand why the Board backed McCartney.