Tigers should pounce on Neil Balme
Kevin Sheedy | September 21, 2008
RICHMOND needs to get serious and go after Neil Balme.
The club needs a football manager and Balme is the perfect candidate. Look at his record and the evidence is compelling.
He has just made it to his fourth Grand Final in the past six years - two while at Collingwood in 2002 and 2003 and now with this mighty Geelong outfit.
For a guy who isn't coaching that is a remarkable effort.
I personally put my hand up for him to join Essendon in the middle of 2006. At the time the CEO Peter Jackson felt he wasn't right for us.
He slipped through and it was a drastic mistake, considering we were struggling at the time.
Balme seems to have the capacity to get coaches to work together. If not for a freakish snap by Jason Akermanis he would have won a flag with Collingwood in 2002.
In Adelaide he was a manager and a coach who won premierships and then he came across to do a reasonably successful job as head coach of Melbourne.
He doesn't appear to get flustered and keeps a lid on issues by playing it tight but fair.
Graeme Richmond and Alan Schwab would never have allowed him to drive past Richmond from his home in the eastern suburbs.
The current administration would be foolish to overlook him and need to do whatever it takes to get him back there.
With his experience he would make an ideal No.2 to coach Terry Wallace.
For a team that consistently keeps finishing ninth he could be the difference. He would be the first person you'd get back, especially losing someone such as Greg Miller.
You can interview all the people in the world, but there are some who just have that "it" factor.
Sometimes the plant nearest the back door doesn't get watered because you just keep walking past it.
That happened with North Melbourne when Denis Pagan was overlooked for a reserves or senior job and came to Essendon.
Then the Roos came back to nab him and he went on to win two premierships.
It also happened with Mark Williams. At Glenelg they said, 'We don't think you're good enough'. He won a premiership with Port within a decade.
Sometimes people around the corner get walked past too readily.
And it shouldn't be forgotten that Balme had a tremendous career at Tigerland.
He wasn't Royce Hart or Francis Bourke, but he was a really good contributor to the team. A lion in the goal square who smashed hell out of the great Carlton Football Club.
And in the top job he did well, too. You don't have to win the premiership to be regarded as a top-class coach. Stan Alves got to a Grand Final and didn't win.
Neale Daniher is a classic case. How Victorian clubs let West Coast sign him is a disgrace and another huge error in judgment.
One of the best football managers I had was Matthew Drain.
He left and we never filled that spot properly. The football manager controls the whole conveyance of the club and is a very important piece in the puzzle.
You look at Bomber Thompson and he is as relaxed as ever.
Since Balme has come on board he has been relieved of many duties and he has been able to simply concentrate on coaching.
I don't know Balme that well.
He doesn't live in my back pocket but I just respect results. And Richmond needs an abundance of those.
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