An article in today's Age that tells of McGuane's footy career as coach.
Mick country
Adam McNicol.
realfooty.theage.com.au
September 12, 2004
Mick McGuane, a player to remember, has become a coach they'll never forget, writes Adam McNicol.
A week ago, something extraordinary happened in the coaching career of Mick McGuane.
His team lost.
Since he led Northern Tasmanian league club Burnie to an undefeated premiership in 2001, the champion Collingwood ruck-rover has put together an almost unrivalled coaching resume.
In the past four seasons, his teams have lost only four matches, the most recent of which came in very dramatic circumstances, when Gisborne was beaten in extra-time by Sandhurst in the Bendigo league second semi-final.
Aiming for their third successive flag, the Bulldogs had gone into the match with confidence but were outplayed by a youthful and desperate Dragons outfit.
While the loss has hurt Gisborne's chances of a hat-trick, and set back McGuane's quest for four premierships in a row, it is just a small hiccup in the journey of a man desperate to make it back to the highest level.
McGuane grew up in Sebastopol and stood out while playing junior football for the Kookaburras in the Ballarat league.
In 1985, as just a skinny teenager, he was promoted to the senior side and played in Sebastopol's grand final loss to North Ballarat.
"The sour taste that was left in my mouth I never want to revisit," said McGuane, who has since been involved in five grand finals as a player or coach and won them all.
Ignored by St Kilda, which had the Ballarat region as part of its recruiting zone, he quickly caught the eye of Collingwood scouts and joined the Magpies for the 1986 season. He played in the under-19s premiership, the team toppling Denis Pagan's all-powerful North Melbourne side in the grand final.
McGuane made his senior debut in 1987 and over the next decade wrote himself into Magpie folklore. During his playing stint at Victoria Park, he was a key member of the drought-breaking 1990 premiership team and won two Copeland Trophies.
After an ill-fated year at Carlton in 1997, McGuane retired and returned to Collingwood, where he worked in the marketing department.
In 2000, McGuane accepted his first coaching appointment at Burnie. He also took on the position of general manager.
It took a year for his philosophies of discipline and fitness to rub off on the players but the side gelled so well in 2001, it went through the season undefeated.
The team had an average age of 21, proving McGuane's abilities to nurture young players. Among his charges was a 15-year-old Luke Shackleton, who later progressed to the Tassie Mariners before being drafted by Collingwood. He made his senior debut this season.
On returning to Victoria, McGuane landed the coaching job at Gisborne, a club based 50 kilometres north-west of Melbourne that had dominated the Riddell District league in the late 1990s. Seeking stronger competition, it transferred to the Bendigo league in 2000 but struggled initially.
McGuane took charge of a team that had won only three games in 2001. He immediately asserted his authority by demanding players train three nights a week, not just during pre-season but right through winter as well.
Videotaping of games was introduced, along with in-depth statistical analysis of each match and of the other Bendigo league teams.
"I pride myself on doing a lot of analysis on our opposition," McGuane said. "Being a country bloke with a lot of friends, I have a fair network to call on."
The results were stunning. Gisborne lost just one game in 2002 on its way to defeating Golden Square in the grand final, before going back-to-back last year with a 47-point win over Eaglehawk.
Followers of the eight other Bendigo league clubs hoped the Gisborne players might finally lose their hunger for success this season. It hasn't happened, the Bulldogs again finishing on top of the ladder, having lost just one home-and-away match.
McGuane said he used a simple formula to keep his team at the top.
"Footballers become creatures of habit," he said. "We just basically revolve our training around doing the right things over and over again. We really try to teach and educate our players the right habits through the training weeks and from that we get a pretty good, consistent starting point.
"I think there are some basic fundamentals that haven't changed over the 100 years of footy. I think a lot of science goes into the game but there's still realistically only three phases: we've got it, they've got it or it's in dispute. Why complicate it when that's basically the fundamentals of the game?"
Last weekend, the Bulldogs began their finals campaign when they took on Sandhurst - a club that makes the finals almost every year but hasn't won a premiership since 1983 - in the second semi-final at Bendigo's Queen Elizabeth Oval.
Although Gisborne's only loss for the season had been against the Dragons, McGuane's team went
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