A few coaches face scrutiny, but sacking them is not the response (H-Sun)

[one-eyed]

A few coaches face intensifying scrutiny, but sacking them is not the trendy immediate response
Gerard Whateley
Herald-Sun
June 14, 2014

YOU didn’t need a degree in law or psychology to comprehend the logic of Western Bulldogs president Peter Gordon.

Asked this week to reflect on the club’s off-season decision to extend the contract of coach Brendan McCartney, Gordon told Seven News: “Imagine the counterfactual. Imagine if we hadn’t done that the media feeding frenzy you guys would be involved in.”

It’s an alternative equally relevant to Richmond and Adelaide, teams that acted precisely as the Dogs did, pre-emptively granting their coaches tenure to the end of 2016.

While the wisdom of such decisions might be up for debate in some quarters, the effect is not.

The scrutiny on McCartney, Damien Hardwick and Brenton Sanderson is real and intensifying, but it doesn’t contain the ferocious edge when the scent of blood enters the water.

The combustible environment when external forces sense if they shake hard enough, a rattled club might commit a rash act.

This year only the dull thinkers countenance the notion of a sacking.

Once Guy McKenna was handed his deal at Gold Coast covering 2015, not a single coach was left in the final year of a contract. Such an eventuality had been deliberately short-circuited by many a board.

So for a rare occasion the examination of fault lines, both internally and externally, runs deeper than haranguing the senior coach.

There is justifiable criticism, pointed questioning and a study of each coach’s performance and philosophy.

Despite a terrible season so far for the Richmond Tigers coach Damien Hardwick is upbeat enough to give a cheeky response to this journalist's question

Hardwick is having a poor season. His surety has given way to anxiety. His team can’t execute its core game plan and its incapacity to deal with a foreseeable North Melbourne onslaught was deplorable.

But there are no whispering campaigns. No declarations of dead men walking. Only a demand that each works diligently and hastily to arrest his respective plight.

While administrators are asked if they retain faith in the coach, they are also under the microscope for the direction chosen.

There’s sound rationale and cautionary tales in the imprecise science of extending coaching contracts.

The willingness and eagerness falls into three categories: to reward achievement and breakthrough; to stay the course and bring plans to fruition; and to ease the weekly pressure that can itself derail focus and ambition.

Coming to a fresh season Collingwood based all of its planning on the shape of its team in 2016. Appropriately, Nathan Buckley was bound for that period also.

Hardwick’s is the most fascinating case study. Tangible progress was achieved in each of his first four years culminating in a finals berth. It was a plan coming together.

His contract extension was justifiable reward and endorsement in keeping with Richmond’s preparations for a sustained period as a contending club.

Should Richmond retrieve this slide and restore its climb next year, graduating to finals success, the security afforded the coach will be judged a masterstroke, shelter from the unexpected storm.

If Richmond lingers in collapse, condemned to dwell in no man’s land, then it is shackled to a relationship it misjudged.

The quest for stability is commendable as long as the right people are in position.

http://www.news.com.au/sport/afl/a-few-coaches-face-intensifying-scrutiny-but-sacking-them-is-not-the-trendy-immediate-response/story-fndv8weh-1226953478483

[Stripes]

Good article. I think Hardwick will have us playing finals again next year but to do that he needs to experiment with the depth players and then start to consistently play the same line up near the end of the year. This will hopefully allow us the regain our confidence and sense of belief in our game plan and each other.

I hope Hardwick is researching different game plans that create success and linking that with the players we have. What will work for us and what will work best against the opposition.

[tony_montana]

Good article. I think Hardwick will have us playing finals again next year but to do that he needs to experiment with the depth players and then start to consistently play the same line up near the end of the year. This will hopefully allow us the regain our confidence and sense of belief in our game plan and each other.

I hope Hardwick is researching different game plans that create success and linking that with the players we have. What will work for us and what will work best against the opposition.

We hope he experiements with depth players aka give the young blokes a fair crack, we hope he is researching different gamestyles but the reality is, he has his mantra, set gamestyle and set on the same spuds and he's sticking to it, so no, there wont finals under him next year.