Choose a rookie at your peril - Nixon
Finn Bradshaw | June 19, 2009 03:40pm
RICKY Nixon has warned AFL clubs against hiring an inexperienced coach for a quick fix.
Nixon, one of the AFL’s leading agents who represents out-of-contract coaches Dean Laidley, Rodney Eade and Mark Williams, said history showed that young coaches didn’t get results quickly, with the exception of last year’s Hawthorn premiership.
“If you’re Richmond or the Kangaroos, if you want to employ a rookie coach, do it at your peril if you don’t employ an experienced coach,” Nixon told SuperFooty’s Front and Square program.
“I think what clubs need to realise is … that in the last 20 years or so, it’s really only been (Hawks coach) Alastair Clarkson who’s been a rookie coach that has brought a club into a Grand Final and won a premiership in five years.
“And let’s face it, I think (Clarkson’s) a terrific coach but they did have five draft picks inside (the top) 20 going back four or five years, they unearthed a kid called Buddy Franklin, they played Geelong (in the Grand Final) and let’s face it, if they played them 10 times, they’d probably win twice.”
Click here to see Nixon's compelling interview.
While Laidley is focussing on an overseas trip, Nixon said there was already a lot of interest from AFL clubs, and not just to fill a senior coaching role.
“He’s got a range of opportunities. Usually there’s that stereotype where your senior coach has to be a senior coach or he’s gone, but I don’t think that’s the case any more You’ve got to play to your strengths.
"Most people in the competition would say Dean’s right up there with the game day and tactics … perhaps the area everyone’s not so great at is the media and handling that sort of thing.
“Maybe you take that away and as director of coaching you do what you do well, which is coach, look at high performance areas of other sports around the world, make sure the club you’re employed by is cutting edge and ahead of the pack, but that doesn’t mean you don’t look at a Richmond position or one of the other clubs that may be looking for a senior coach.”
Nixon said that any coaching candidate needed a range of abilities.
“You need a coach who’s up with the times … can relate to young men coming through the draft, and can tactically still be ahead of the game, then that’s the man for your club. And if that’s Dean Laidley for Richmond, so be it,” he said.
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sport/afl/story/0,26576,25659648-19742,00.html
