Old stagers fling hats in ring as race hots up for Tigers coach
Brent Diamond | June 14, 2009
AS RICHMOND finalises the selection committee that will decide on a new coach, some familiar names are turning the spotlight on themselves, including Kevin Sheedy, Denis Pagan and Gary Ayres.
Sheedy spruiked his credentials — or the credential of senior citizens as coaches — on Friday, saying that the two best coaches in the world were Alex Ferguson and Guus Hiddink, both in their 60s.
"Experience counts," Sheedy said, suggesting he would consider the position if it were offered.
"Coach of the '90s" Pagan, also in his 60s, recently expressed his desire to return to coaching at senior level. And Ayres, who coached Adelaide and Geelong, told The Sunday Age during the week he could deliver a premiership at Richmond within four years if he was given the job.
Ayres said the Tigers would be risking more heartache if they went down the path of an untried coach.
"If they opt for a young one, they'd want to make sure they do their research and homework because as we all know, coaching AFL is one of the toughest gigs that you could ever have. You have to go into (it) with your eyes wide open and have great infrastructure and support," he said.
Tigers football operations manager Craig Cameron said the board would finalise the process at its next meeting and draw up a list of candidates that could be short-listed as soon as next month.
It is understood the Tigers' new coach will be appointed a week after the end of Richmond's season to enable him to have a big say in the trade period in October and the draft in November.
"The national draft is the last Saturday in November and the trade period is before that, so absolutely I'd expect to have one appointed well before then so they can be involved," Cameron said.
Cameron also said Jade Rawlings' coaching tenure at Richmond would not be judged "purely on his win-loss ratio".
"We'll see at the end of the year, but we don't want to talk about that at the minute. He's our caretaker coach and we'll see how he goes," he said.
Cameron left the door ajar for experienced coaches such as Ayres and Pagan to apply for the role, despite the obvious candidates being younger and untried. "We'll be looking for the best coach that suits the Richmond Football Club. We're not putting any parameters on the position at all. We'll be looking for the best candidate and that is young or old," he said.
Robert Walls, who was on St Kilda's coaching selection committee that chose Ross Lyon, said Richmond should follow the trend and choose an untried coach.
"I'd follow the trend and look for one of the assistant coaches right now — blokes like Damien Hardwick or even Nathan Buckley," Walls said. "All the senior positions that have been filled in the last five years have all been first-time AFL coaches with (Matthew) Knights, (Alastair) Clarkson, (Michael) Voss, etc," he said.
"(John) Worsfold's going all right, (Alastair) Clarkson's going all right, (Matthew) Knights is doing all right. They were all first-time coaches and I think that's the way it's heading."
Ayres said clubs should not have "pre-conceived ideas" when selecting a coach and hoped Richmond would be open minded in its approach. But he admitted it was unlikely he would be considered despite the fact that at 48, and still coaching at VFL level, he was "not that old".
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