Adelaide Footy League club Prince Alfred Old Collegians parts ways with coach Brett Backwell
He took them to a grand final less than two months ago but this Adelaide Footy League club has parted ways with its premiership-winning coach.
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Brett Backwell says he still loves the Prince Alfred Old Collegians Football Club, despite the Reds choosing to cut ties with the coach less than two months after the division one grand final.
The Reds announced on Monday that Backwell would not continue as coach of the Adelaide Footy League club in 2020.
PAOC was a dominant force this season with the 2006 Magarey Medallist at the helm, spending much of the minor rounds on top of the ladder before falling to Payneham Norwood Union by four points in a hotly-contested grand final.
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Backwell guided the Reds to their first ever division one premiership in 2016 – his first year in charge at the club and its first year in the top flight in three decades.
The 39-year-old former Carlton, Glenelg and North Adelaide player said he had expected to go on as coach next season before the club decided to go in a different direction.
“We had some discussions around which way the club needs to go moving forward, which I was pretty excited about, and we made a commitment,” Backwell said.
“But they changed their mind and wanted to go a different path.
“I don’t exactly know the reasons for that, it’s probably got nothing to with me, so we part ways and move on.
“Even speaking with the club, we were four points away from winning a grand final. If we had have won it they probably still would have come to the same decision.”
He is the second-straight division one coach to not continue in the job following a grand final loss, with Rostrevor Old Collegians cutting ties with Adrian Rocco after the 2018 decider.
Backwell said he did not hold any grudges at the Reds, who last week landed the prized signature of former Melbourne captain and delisted Power midfielder Jack Trengove.
He will now look to further his coaching career elsewhere while undertaking an AFL level three high-performance coaching course.
“I love the footy club, they’ve given me the opportunity to something I love,” Backwell said.
“We’ve had some success, they’re a great bunch of blokes, a great footy club and we part ways on pretty amicable terms and move on.”
Backwell said he had been offered a development role with North Adelaide, was still unsure what his next move would be but said “I’m just super keen to coach”.
He described the 2016 division one flag as the highlight of his footy career.
“I’ve done a fair bit in football but that tops it,” he said.
“To be able to lead a young bunch of guys through that and win the flag and there was some off-field stuff that year as well which we had to deal with as a footy club.
“Even this year I think we we’re the best side all year, then we just hit some speed bumps late and then lose by four points in a grand final to a bloody good side.”
PAOC chairman Michael Siciliano said both parties decided a fresh voice as coach was in the best interests of the club.
“Without a shadow of a doubt he’s comfortably the best coach we’ve had at the footy club in my time, so it was nothing to do with performance whatsoever,” Siciliano said.
“We do have impressive candidates internally who will no doubt put their hand up for the job.
“But we begin that process from today basically, looking within and externally and see what’s out there.”
The Reds, who had a 14-4 win-loss record in the minor rounds this season, will enter 2020 as one of the favourites for the flag after securing Trengove and retaining the majority of their grand final team.