From: Coaches on a knife's edge
04 June 2006
Sunday Herald Sun
Jon Ralph
It may be one of the toughest jobs in sport – but there is no shortage of people wanting to coach.IT was in the dying weeks of Danny Frawley's dramatic final season at Richmond that he turned up to the club each day seemingly brimming with confidence and good cheer.
His Tigers were in a terminal downward spiral, but to the outside world he was a picture of industry and enthusiasm.
However, Frawley knew differently.
"There were days when I had to jump in the bay on the way to the club, just to make sure the nerves were OK because there were times when you had to fight the body language," he admitted this week.
"If I was going to drag my heels around, the whole joint would have caved in and I had to make sure I was on my toes."
Frawley could have been forgiven for taking a long walk off a short pier, not just a brisk 500m swim in the icy water off Brighton Baths.
The inevitable end of his five-season coaching career, a nasty fan-spitting incident that attracted Australia-wide publicity, a health scare for his young daughter – it was enough to bring any coach to his knees.
The take-no-prisoners world of AFL football had claimed another victim. Except Frawley would do it all again in a second.
"I would. There is a lot of emotion in every game, but there is still no better feeling that walking across the 'G thinking, `We are going for work today, how good is this,' in front of 60,000 people," Frawley said.
"There is a lot riding on your emotions and whether a lot of people will get a lot of frustration or enjoyment that day."
...........
Frawley said: "It might sound strange, but in 2001 we won 17 games compared to the last year when we won four games and I probably coached better in 2004.
"It's impossible to prove, but I think it's right. But if you don't get the four points . . . when you get a groundswell going against you, it's hard and the only way to stop it is win. That's what happened to me."
Full article:
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/footy/common/story_page/0,8033,19353140%255E19742,00.html