Frawley's hell of a ride
28 August 2004
Herald Sun
Garry Lyon
In 1999, Danny Frawley inherited a team that finished 12th. Five years later, he leaves one on rock bottom. He stepped up to the plate, put his best foot forward, but paid the price for one "huge mistake" in 2001.
Were you too nice as a coach, too good a bloke? No, I was criticised early for being too much of a disciplinarian. I suspended Daffy and Ottens for off-field indiscretions and some said that was the wrong way to go. I dropped Matthew Richardson, which had not happened before. I guess the definitive answer to that would come from the players.
Do you need to be tough to coach? You have to have a mean streak. All the premiership coaches have it. You can be tough when you know you have stability at all levels around you because you know you will always be supported. Unfortunately we haven't had that for a long time (three CEOs, three footy managers). Your decision-making can be clouded by the uncertainty and constantly changing personnel. I think the Tigers are close to having that sort of stability. Geelong were fantastic having the stability of Thompson, Cook and Costa. They are now seeing the benefit of that support.
Are you the same person now as when you started? Away from prying eyes I am. I am looking forward to reintroducing myself to the Danny Frawley of old in the coming months. It will happen quickly. I'm not the kind of person to dwell on things.
How has it changed you with "prying eyes" on you? Coaching in the AFL is one of the most accountable jobs in the country. Every decision you make is analysed and reported. I am probably more guarded and less spontaneous than I was because I know that every action I take has a ramification, either positive or negative.
Has the experience hurt you in any way? No, not at all. I can honestly say it has been a hell of a ride, bumpy at times, but a great trip. I am blessed to have been able to coach when I didn't in my wildest dreams think I would have that chance.
Has it hurt your family? Yes, family and friends. It is frustrating knowing that there was nothing I could do to change the exposure they have to the pressures and volatility that come with the job. It came to a head after the Adelaide game at the Telstra Dome (Round 5 loss) and I thought for the first time, "Why do I put the people I love through this?".
Is there an example of that pressure they experienced? My parents are good country folk who lead pretty uncomplicated lives. When they start having people and press arrive on their doorstep after that game, they become a little confused and worried. When your mum rings you up and says, "Danny, what do you want us to say to the media?", you know it has gone too far. That is hard to handle. I know I am fair game but lay off my family.
How do you feel now it is all coming to an end? I have been relaxed since I made the decision. I went to Clinton and Greg and said that the end of the year would see me out and why don't we make that known to take some pressure off the club. Just to try and free up the place.
Has it allowed you more time to reacquaint yourself with your family? It has a bit, but I was very conscious of not having my workrate drop off at all in front of the players. I have explained to the family that there will be plenty of free time soon but for now I want to finish this off as professionally as I can.
Have you become cynical? Do you loathe the media, for example? Not at all. I think the Aussie sporting public are pretty hard markers, in general, with our own. We saw it with the rower, Sally Robbins. Most were quick to condemn her, yet the English marathon runner failed to finish her race, but was not criticised in the same manner.
I think we could do it better, though, for our departing coaches. Peter Schwab, for example, has been the most magnificent servant of football. Premiership player, umpires' coach, worked in marketing at Hawthorn and then coached them for five years. We should acknowledge that. Why wouldn't he be invited to do a lap before the Grand Final with the retiring players as a magnificent servant of Hawthorn FC?
Did the players let you down? Have they got off scot-free? Look, footballers are not robots. Our boys cop it more than any other team in the competition because they play for Richmond. Our supporters are great but they are demanding and are hard markers, which they should be. I think they are subjected to a fair degree of accountability, from within and from the outside.
What was the best time you had as a coach? Definitely winning the final in front of 80,000 people. I remember driving to recovery the next morning thinking we were about to play off for a spot in the Grand Final this week. Coaching was a pretty fair caper then for a bloke in just his second year on the job. We made a huge mistake by just trying to top up our list after that preliminary final loss. I was a young coach who had the Tiger army salivating at the fact we were one game away from a Grand Final. I wasn't about to make too many changes. We over-assessed our list and paid the price.
The worst? The Adelaide game and the scenes after it. I need to put that into context a bit. It wasn't just about me and the abuse that came my way. The thing that gutted me was we had Tom Roach playing his first game that night and Brett Hartigan his fourth and I remember being horrified in the rooms after, looking at them and thinking that I was responsible for their first memories of league football being a train wreck. Your first memories shouldn't be of the things we saw that night.
How has it been since the appointment of Terry Wallace? Uncomfortable? Yeah, it has been uncomfortable. I have always been a competitor from my earliest days and just knowing that there was another coach there has taken the edge of me in that area. The players have responded differently to me and I have to them.
After the Adelaide game, after Terry's appointment, I sat them down in the room and went through their positives and negatives with them. They responded well to the positives but when it came to the negatives I could see a bit of shutdown in their eyes. They were thinking, "You are not going to be able to help me with that".
Since then I tried to keep it pretty simplistic and said I wasn't going to belt them, I would just try and help them as much as I can.
Will you sit down with Terry at some stage and have a chat about the list? Ahh, I think I will have to just take a deep breath when all this is over before I do too much. Greg Miller has been there for 2 1/2 years, so I think that will probably be enough.
The Tony Jewell criticism? Nothing good was going to come out of that article and it's not worth going over again. I was a little disappointed at the time but moved on pretty quickly. We will not let it get in the way of our friendship.
Was the "spitter" a shock? It was. You know there is an angry crowd there as you walk off, but no one deserves to be spat on. The only thing I was disappointed was that some people said that Danny was walking off with his head down. Well, I can tell you, the only reason I did that as I got to the race was that had I looked up and eye-balled him, there is a chance it could have gone a fair bit further.
What were the moments you wouldn't swap as a coach? There are lots of them, but I have really enjoyed nurturing and fostering a really strong relationship with Andrew Krakouer. At different times I have been his coach, his dad, his teacher and his friend. We have worked through a lot of issues together, mainly off-field stuff, and he is an absolutely terrific person. He basically has been without his dad for eight years and, along with the club who have been great too, I think we have made a real difference in his life.
I also hope I have been able to help change the perception that people have of Wayne Campbell, especially a lot of Richmond people. He is a terrific leader and has been one of the more consistent players over the past 12 - 14 years. I have really enjoyed working alongside him. Also working with blokes like Crocker, Hutchy, Britts and Spargs who have all been very loyal and supportive of me.
I will throw a few names at you.Matthew Richardson. Finally playing consistent football.
Brad Ottens. Ready for a big 2005.
Darren Gaspar. Cut down in the line of duty when All-Australian honours beckoned once again. We need to be patient.
Clinton Casey. Great support for me and the club.
Rex Hunt Larger than life.
Brendan Schwab. Unity.
What advice would you give me if I said I was going to coach next year? (Laughing) Good luck. I would need three weeks to sit down with you to try and prepare you for what you could look forward to. The thing you can't prepare for is the massive amount of exposure and scrutiny that comes with the job.
What is the best path to a senior coaching job? To coach a team in your own right. If not, have very good people around you you can trust and who have experienced the highs and lows of football.
The lows are important too. Those who have experienced only success at a club struggle to relate to the battle of trying to motivate a side that may have strung four or five losses together.
Is there solidarity among the coaches? There is for sure. After the Adelaide game early in the year, I answered the phone and it was Leigh Matthews. He just told me to keep at it and to work through it. I thought it showed real class from one of the best of all time. Denis Pagan has been a very good sounding board for me as well.
Will we see you back at the Saints? Who knows, Garry? I have been lucky enough to have had a few opportunities put to me since I announced this would be my last year, inside and out of football, and I will work through them once the year is finished. The reason I got involved in coaching was because the grand plan was for me to return to the club as an assistant under Trevor Barker.
I'm just wrapped that they are flying under Grant and Rod and it looks really exciting. I think John Beveridge, the recruiting manager, deserves an enormous pat on the back for the list he has assembled also. There are some opportunities in the media, the corporate world also, which sounds exciting, but my family deserves some time before I decide my future.
Well, congratulations, mate. You step away from coaching not having lost any friends, I wouldn't think, and that's a fair achievement in itself.
Thanks, young fella. The ego cops a couple of whacks along the way, but I have always tried to maintain respect among my peers along the way. You can't bluff the footy world, and some try with the smoke and mirrors stuff. What you see is what you get with me and I guess more importantly I still respect myself. You have to.
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