Brad Scott, Craig McRae interviewed for Gold Coast job
Andrew Hamilton | July 31, 2008
GOLD Coast will attempt to mine modern football's most successful cultures by appointing a protege of supercoaches Michael Malthouse or Leigh Matthews as its first coach.
The Coast bid team finished the first round of interviews for the 17th AFL club's first coach with meetings yesterday with former Lions premiership teammates Brad Scott and Craig McRae.
It is understood Collingwood assistants Guy McKenna and Alan Richardson and Brisbane's Paul Hudson and Justin Leppitsch have also been interviewed.
The selection team will tomorrow draw up a shortlist of three for a secondary interview next week. The senior coach or football manager from the shortlisted applicants' clubs will be approached to provide a reference.
The interviews were conducted by former Lions chairman Graeme Downie, GC17 director Dr Alan MacKenzie, AFL coaches' association CEO Neale Daniher and senior AFL official David Mathews.
Downie, the selection committee chairman, praised the quality of the candidates and said there appeared to be no need to look beyond the applicants for other coaches.
"The quality was excellent, we were very pleased with it and the presentations were exceptionally professional," he said. "The difficult task is coming back to a shortlist.
"For the position we are offering, I don't believe there is anyone else we need to approach to improve our selection. We feel anyone from the six we saw would be quite capable of coaching an AFL team."
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The selection committee received about 15 written applications and there were inquiries from at least five other interested parties.
Downie said there had been multiple expressions of interest from applicants with previous senior coaching experience but only one had made the interview stage. It appears he was referring to either Leppitsch or McKenna – the former guided the Lions in the NAB Cup this season while the latter was head coach at WAFL club Claremont.
He also said the selection team had been stunned by the level of expertise the candidates possessed.
"The amount of knowledge these guys have is very impressive," he said.
"Coaching is clearly not a simple process any more, now the equipment they use, the statistical information, psychological testing, GPS tracking data, it really opens your eyes up. It is a credit to the older senior coaches that they can keep up with the times."
Downie said the committee would not seek the opinions of current players when researching the applicants' credentials, but may be tempted to talk to former greats who had played under them.
"We might go to retired players with the standing of (Michael) Voss, (James) Hird or (Nathan) Buckley, but we are more likely to go the people who oversaw the candidates in their current jobs," he said. "The best reference you can get is from a senior coach or football manager. They are the ones that are directly responsible."
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