Wolf in sheep's clothing
Mark Robinson | June 13, 2009
LIKE all coaches, Jade Rawlings has bit of wolf in sheep's clothing about him. Behind the expansive smile and affable persona is a new coach with a strong belief.
Yesterday, after the Herald Sun splashed Richmond selection news under the headlines "Jade's Blade" and "The Axeman", Rawlings laughed it off.
"Drew a headline, too, Jade the Blade. That's not bad. I wasn't ready for that," he quipped.
Soon enough, though, Rawlings wasn't joking.
A day after the dramatic team changes were made, his message was clear: At just 31, and dealing with a handful of players older than him, and arguably better players than him, Rawlings won't baulk at the tough decisions.
"Definitely," he said. "It's for other people to judge how I am, but I don't think you can do this role unless you've got that characteristic. So I would like to think I'm strong and firm in what I stand for."
Ruthless?
"If I need to be ruthless to make a point, I think I can be," he said.
"You can ask my Coburg players whether I'm that.
"But you just can't make your way in this game without having a strong character.
"These players need strong messages and boundaries, what they can and can't do, and we'll let them make decision within that."
On Thursday, he axed Joel Bowden, Mark Coughlan, Kayne Pettifer, Jordan McMahon and Troy Simmonds and stressed it was a match committee decision and not anyone else's.
The assumption was that senior figures at the club had a say in team selection and the direction of the side as the Tigers try to salvage what retired former skipper Kane Johnson labelled a disastrous season.
The second assumption was that Bowden and the other four had had their cards marked.
"We haven't put a line through any person on our list," Rawlings said.
"I said to all the guys, 'There is no cap on whether it is one week, eight weeks or never again'.
"We want to move forward picking a team that helps shape the future of the footy club and also reward form.
"A lot of those players out of the side haven't been in great form and they will need to go back to Coburg like any player who gets dropped and do something about elements of their game we've discussed with them."
The Bowden decision is perhaps the most intriguing.
He is considered unlucky because his form had been reasonable, and Rawlings admitted he had a 20-minute one-on-one discussion with the dual best-and-fairest winner on Thursday.
The assumption, again, is that Bowden's career is over.
"He's probably been on the borderline once or twice this year already and to his credit he's fought back really well," Rawlings said.
"There are elements of his game he has to tighten up.
"I had a terrific discussion with him. I've actually got quite close with Joel over the period of years and we had a very open 20-minute discussion which was calm, controlled.
"I'm confident he will do the right thing."
Rawlings had reasons yesterday for those axed and promoted.
Despite the youthful injection into the team to play West Coast tonight at Etihad Stadium, he maintained his mandate was about winning games.
"When I got appointed, it was to go and win games of footy," he said.
"But, no doubt, it's incumbent on me to make decisions that are going to shape the future of the footy club.
"Within that, I will reward people playing the right way, which they have been instructed to play and they are in form."
He said Simmonds hadn't had a "great couple of weeks" and also had a couple of "sore spots".
"We've had a good three chats this week about his next 10 to 12 weeks and what's going to be best for him," Rawlings said.
Of Coughlan, who has returned this year after two knee reconstructions, Rawlings said there had been "no bitterness" between them and he believed the midfielder would continue at the Tigers next year.
Rawlings described his first week as coach as "unbelievably busy" and among a host of obvious changes came a plea from his local kindergarten.
"I went to kindergarten to pick up my daughter yesterday and two or three mums knew what happened and the others having no idea, and went from not knowing me to how I can help them with their fundraiser," he said.
"It changes pretty quick."
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sport/afl/story/0,26576,25628259-19742,00.html
