Glenelg coach Mark Stone has the Tigers on top of the SANFL ladder and favourite for the flag
Glenelg needed a culture change and coach Mark Stone has delivered, guiding the Tigers to the top of the ladder as the finals loom. But the passionate and driven mentor knows the job is far from done.
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Glenelg had won just three of its first 12 games last season and talk was rife of mass disharmony at the Bay.
Players and support staff had walked out of the club and the losses kept mounting.
Mark Stone had worked with Paul Roos at Sydney and Ross Lyon at Fremantle and he sold his coaching vision and the path he wanted to take the club at the application process.
Above all, what he wanted at the Tigers was to significantly lift the professional standards, and not just for the players. He also demanded that from the support staff, the entire football department, in a resolute bid to change the culture.
And it was a culture needing change given the Tigers were without a premiership since 1986 and had not played in a finals contest for eight years.
Stone is an intense character who refused to deviate from his message, he had taken the job last year for a reason and was extremely driven in his approach.
The club, and especially the players, just had to be more professional. He wanted AFL standards at the part-time SANFL level and that created issues, prompting those who struggled to adjust to his words to leave to the club.
But Stone was just the person the Tigers needed to significantly alter the perception of the Glenelg Football Club, give it direction and provide hope for the long suffering supporters. The club needed such a strong-willed person who stood by his convictions and had the passion and honesty to drive it forward.
The Tigers won their final six games of the season, including contests against finalists South Adelaide, North Adelaide and Sturt, to raise a few eyebrows.
A by-product of the form burst was glaring evidence to the playing group of what could be achieved if they listened and stayed loyal to Stone’s plans.
That momentum has carried into 2019 with the Tigers on top of the ladder after dropping just two of their 15 games. They are four points clear of second-placed Adelaide with only three rounds remaining and can sniff something special.
What is most apparent is Stone has the side functioning as a team and each player who comes into the 21 does his job. While he is unwavering in his demands, it is no dictatorship. Feedback from the players is encouraged and there is constant consultation with the leadership group. Immediately after games, it is common to witness Stone talking tactics on the white board with senior personnel.
One rule exists for all and each week the players, who have completely bought into what Stone is selling, vote for the team’s best performer.
The growing maturity of the Tigers was evident on Saturday when they beat the Crows by two points in one of the games of the season when the two well-drilled, high quality outfits fired their best shots.
“We have passed a few tests in that area in the past 12 months or so,” Stone said. “The Crows kept coming and it is a sign of growth and belief.
“Every time the heat comes we have got to respond. It is a sign of maturity and leadership, the leaders are doing a terrific job.
“For a team which probably two years ago would have rolled over when the situation was tough, we don’t do that anymore. So that means we are a hard team to beat and if you are going to beat us, you have to beat us.
“We certainly won’t hand games on a plate. That game against the Crows could have gone the other way and we would have said the same thing, there were lots of lessons to take out of it and we are still a hard team to beat.”
Expectations at the Bay have risen sharply and rather than try and shy away from the added pressure, the club has embraced it. Just as the Tigers are thriving in the rare scenario of being the hunted.
Stone said such a situation creates the mindset of needing to be on your game all the time.
“High-performance teams, and I like that phrase over elite, produce high-level performances all the time,” he said.
“What that means is when we review we are on, when we take notes and take the messages learnt and go out and train we are on, when we recover we are on. That way we start to produce a habit of being high performance in everything we do.
“That is the biggest turn around for us, that is what we are starting to become, and we don’t walk away from the win (over the Crows) and breathe out and sit in the light which shines on us a little for 24 hours and relax.
“We have another tough game against North Adelaide (at Prospect Oval on Sunday). A high-performance teams prepares and trains well and plays well. That is what we have got to do.”