Hinkley would give stereotype the bootJake Niall | August 20, 2009
SHOULD Ken Hinkley become the next Richmond coach, he will have defied one of the game's most enduring and absurd prejudices: that the player who relied on skill, with minimal aggression or physical presence, cannot become a great coach.
Hinkley was a gifted footballer, who began his career where highly skilled, non-physical players once set up shop - on the half-forward flank. In 2000, when Kevin Sheedy spoke disparagingly of then West Coast and ex-Hawthorn coach Ken Judge, he called him a typical ''half-forward flanker.'' Coming from the rugged back-pocket plumber, the inference was clear.
Not long after Hinkley left Fitzroy and was cleared to Geelong - to be closer to his home town of Camperdown - Malcolm Blight moved him to defence, where he would flourish in a free-wheeling team that scored heavily. Hinkley was a beautiful player who played the game, yes, the way it should be played - for spectators, but not the way of a stereotypical coach.
Hinkley was a fluent, attacking player whose skills were not matched by the defensive mindset that coaches invariably demand. He did not lack courage - his mentor Blight describes him as ''very courageous'' in keeping his eye on the ball for a lightly framed player - but his game was based on skill, and aesthetically attractive in the Geelong tradition.
The field of coaches, even today, remains heavily biased in favour of hard men and ex-champions. Michael Malthouse, John Worsfold, Mark Williams, Ross Lyon, Alastair Clarkson and Mark Harvey were aggressive, physical players. Dean Bailey was a battling journeyman. Paul Roos was a champion. Brett Ratten and Michael Voss were both physical and champions. Brad Scott will continue the hard-man pattern, as would Damien Hardwick, who was highly skilled only in the sense that he was expert in the art of hurting opponents without giving away frees.
The notion that a coach must have played tough and a touch nasty is ridiculous, of course, and you wonder how it has managed to persist in a competition as professional as the AFL. The most obvious explanation is that football is wedded to the belief a coach must have automatic respect for his playing deeds, and the only players who are accorded unconditional respect - ie, the moment he walks in to the club - are those who once were warriors. Or dead-set champions.
The prejudice in favour of the tough guy remains, even while other outdated biases are gradually ebbing away. Not so long ago, it was considered essential for a coach to have played in a premiership team at league level. Williams, Clarkson and Roos have put paid to that ancient shibboleth, and Lyon - who played the bulk of his career with Roos at impecunious, struggling Fitzroy - is another potential premiership coach who didn't see a flag as a player.
Clubs now look whether you've been in a successful team, as player or assistant coach, a concession that allowed the likes of Lyon and Clarkson to be appointed. Essendon hired Matthew Knights, who while a star player and ex-captain, has defied the success bias for coaches. Hinkley has seen plenty of success, having coached premierships at Camperdown and Bell Park in the local Geelong league, in addition to his role in Geelong's rise - a journey that would appeal to the competition's least successful club.
The Tigers would also like that Hinkley has coached his own teams at local level and, at 41, is a seasoned campaigner. His resume actually is not dissimilar to that of John ''Swooper'' Northey, one of the rare half-forward-flanker coaches, who coached successfully in the country before embarking on an AFL coaching career.
Hinkley is said to be a teaching coach and while he has a country manner, is actually pretty hard-nosed. Asked why he ought to make a senior coach, Blight said: ''First and foremost, he's a decent human being. And when I say that, he's a great family man, understands the value of all things good in life. He has a great rapport with players.''
Blight sees Hinkley's coaching career as resembling his playing days in that there has been a struggle and a series of incremental steps towards senior coaching.
Winning the Richmond job would be another small step for Ken. And a giant one for the skilful flanker.
MARKET FOR THE RICHMOND COACHING JOB$2.40 Ken Hinkley
$2.60 Damien Hardwick
$3.50 Jade Rawlings
$5 Alan Richardson
Source: sportingbet.com.au
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