I wanted this to stand out from the Age article as it is direct from the RFC and it is important to all Tiger members and supporters.
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Tigers announce coach selection plan
By Tony Greenberg 10:27 PM Thu 25 June, 2009
Richmond will embark on the most thorough process in its history to find its next senior coach.
The Tigers have invited applications, via the AFL Coaches’ Association, for their senior coaching position by July 3, and will start initial interviews with candidates by the middle of that month.
There are three key phases in the interview process, with a final decision not expected until September.
“It will be a very methodical process and, one of the reasons for this, is that we think there are a lot of excellent coaching candidates out there, and we need to get to know them as well as we can,” said Richmond’s General Manager of Football, Craig Cameron.
“The Coaches’ Association already has received quite a few enquiries for the job from coaches.
“We’ll also talk to other potential candidates, who may not have formally expressed their interest in the position, if we feel they are suitable.”
Before the formal interviews take place, Richmond will speak with several coaching experts about developing a stuff for selecting the right person for the job at Tigerland.
“We’re not going to make public, who these people are, as they’re just doing it as a favor to us. Suffice to say, however, they are people who have coached premierships at senior AFL level, and have coached teams in other sports to high achievement – Olympic Gold Medals, etc.,” Cameron said.
“They’re not going to set the whole agenda, but we’ll tap into their vast coaching knowledge and experience to help us formulate the criteria for what makes a successful coach.”
The Tigers’ coaching sub-committee will comprise Cameron, CEO Steven Wright, football director Tony Free, and the Club’s General Manager of Learning and Development, Jeff Bond, along with two external members in Ben Crowe, founding partner of Gemba, one of Australia’s leading consultancy and communications agencies (and a Richmond supporter), and legendary Australian basketball coach Lindsay Gaze.
“The stage one process will revolve around examining the applicants’ leadership skills, their other personal qualities and their coaching vision. Obviously, also, we’d like a bit of knowledge at that point of their game plan and overall football vision – both short-term and long-term,” Cameron said.
“We’d hope to be in a position by the start of August to filter down the list of candidates who we’ll take to stage two.”
At that time, the two external sub-committee members (Crowe and Gaze) will be replaced by two former Richmond players in Emmett Dunne and Greg Stafford.
Dunne, a Richmond Life Member, played 115 games for the Tigers from 1976-83 and was a member of the Club’s last premiership side, in 1980. He also coached Richmond’s reserve-grade team from 1988-91 and had a stint as playing coach of Footscray’s reserves. Since 1996, he has served on the AFL tribunal and he is a prominent member of the Victoria Police Force, having worked his way through the ranks, to the role of Acting Assistant Commissioner.
Stafford played 74 games with Richmond from 2002-06 and was highly regarded throughout his time at Tigerland for his leadership qualities and astute football brain. Previous to that, he played 130 games for Sydney from 1993-01, and was a member of the Swans’ 1996 Grand Final side.
Richmond president Gary March also will join the coaching sub-committee at stage two of the interview process.
“It will be a much more rigorous, football-based, interview process from that point on. Football-situation analysis will be the focus, along with some psychological profiling,” Cameron said.
“Given the thorough nature of the testing period at stage two, I’d anticipate each interview could take up to three hours.
“From there, we’d be in a position to take a short list of candidates to the board for the final recommendation. Ultimately, it’s a board decision, but they will receive a recommendation from the coaching sub-committee.”
The Club is open-minded on whether to select an experienced or inexperienced coach.
“We’re going to pick the coach, who we believe is the best fit for the Richmond Football Club, and the best fit for where our playing list is at,” Cameron said.
“We have a firm belief that the AFL system is good at producing the next level of senior coaches. The various coaching courses the AFL run, having people involved at the AIS level, and bringing them through the TAC Cup and the under-18 National Championships, combine to help create this next batch of coaches.
“We’re seeing the end product of this, which is a really strong list of potential senior AFL coaches.”
http://www.richmondfc.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/6301/newsid/79427/default.aspx
