Power struggles at Richmond nothing new
Jason Akermanis | June 09, 2009 11:23pm
WITH eight rounds to go in the 1998 season, the Brisbane Lions sacked coach John Northey. I remember it well as the players were divided on everything, except for the coach.
He was sacked and the club appointed favourite son Roger Merrett as caretaker. And for a while, the group was happy to give him a go.
Our club at the time was leaking like a sieve and some senior players were only too happy to tell scribes what they thought of the coach.
It may well have been that some of the leaks contributed to Northey's demise.
John didn't see the relationship with Roger coming back the way it did.
John didn't notice enough of what was happening around him to see Roger was gunning for more power.
As a player I didn't know what to do.
I'll be honest, and it is easy to be honest now, I couldn't wait to see the end of John.
His constant changing of game plans from quarter to quarter was bad. But his relationship with some players, including myself, was one-way and lacked depth.
John had taken us to third in 1996 and some of the football department said he was fortunate to get us that high.
Sure enough the side fell to eighth in 1997.
That year my mum passed away. The week she died I told the club that I wanted to play our match in Perth, as I knew it would have been what mum would have wanted me to do.
I played, and we lost narrowly. In his post-match address, Northey gave me a spray for which I would never forgive him. He screamed hysterically at me in front of the group. "You wanted to play. You said: 'Play me'."
Clearly, he thought I shouldn't have played and even worse, that I played and played poorly. I did some good things that day to help us nearly get the win, but he didn't see it that way.
I thought then that the playing group wasn't going to tolerate such behaviour.
Removing a coach should never be a decision made by players, but the opinion of players is always sought when things start to get ugly.
I know some players back then took it upon themselves to seek change. I know some rang the press. I know some met a board member, and there was even dialogue between some and the chairman.
I couldn't help but see similarities with what appears to have happened at Richmond.
When a team is losing, it is so easy to shift blame.
At the end of Terry Wallace's time at Punt Rd, Blind Freddy could see that Terry had lost some of his players for good.
Maybe he changed tactics too often, but something had happened.
And while only a small group had the biggest problem with him, it appeared the small group had the influence.
Some might say it is the list that is the problem, but time will tell on that one.
In 1998 we were a laughing stock of the AFL. The next year under Leigh Matthews we reached a preliminary final with mostly the same list.
Maybe a good coach can transform an average team into a good team, and maybe a bad coach can lead a talented team to underperform.
Either way, the Richmond players will know if they are dealing with a coach they can respect and relate to.
They will know right now if the new caretaker coach, Jade Rawlings, can do a good job, for the most important relationship that a player needs to perform is with the coach.
It doesn't matter if he is young, experienced or a caretaker coach, the performance under pressure will show.
When you have nothing to play for except pride, that relationship will determine if they will put their bodies on the line when it gets tough.
Only time will tell if Jade can do that, but first he will need to deal with three disappointed assistant coaches who all want to be a senior AFL coach some time soon.
My view is that Merrett never got to retain the senior job at Brisbane because he didn't appear to have the respect of his assistants or the younger group.
And I heard that one assistant made it known to the chairman Alan Piper that while he was moving on, the one decision that had to be made was not picking Roger.
In footy, relationships and who you know are often as important as ability.
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sport/afl/story/0,26576,25613252-19742,00.html
