I think Cameron Ling would be a good assistant coach, but more importantly a great mentor.
Development is the major area where i think we need to improve and spend the most $$ on. Leadership and handling pressure being the key areas of this.
I don't need to list Ling's achievements, they are well known.
Ling would be great for someone like cotch, who i think has struggled with the added pressure of the captaincy this year.
He'd be a great role model and mentor for any football club captain and i think cotch and the leadership group would benefit enormously from him.
The thing that still stands out to me is when Ling was commentating during our game against Geelong and Selwood was bleeding.
Ling was all over it early, saying that Richmond players, particularly Cotchin, should have drawn it to the umpire's attention.
His reasoning was that Selwood is the captain, one of their best clutch players and the driving force for their team.
Sure enough, straight after he said it, Selwood kicked the team lifting goal that won them the game.
I thought at the time - if the players are not switched on enough, why isn't the message coming from the coaches via the runner?
The point is that even if the umpire knows (as he did) you can force the blood rule by reminding the umpire that the rule was bought in because of AIDS and he is now responsible and you are refusing to continue while a bleeding player remains on the field or at the least that you are filing a complaint to the AFL about duty of care.
If Ling was an assistant coach he would bring that degree of switched-on, game-winning smarts to the on-ball brigade.
One game he well could have won for us this year against a top four side just from that single incident.
Would Lenny have done the same? Probably not, he's too much of a nice guy.
