Glenelg coach Mark Stone says he is not going anywhere
MARK Stone has moved to end speculation about his future by guaranteeing he will coach SANFL club Glenelg next season.
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MARK Stone has moved to end speculation about his future by guaranteeing he will coach SANFL club Glenelg next season.
Stone's name is on the AFL Coaches’ Association list of assistant coaches seeking offers from clubs but the first-year Tigers mentor told The Advertiser he will remain at Tigerland in 2019 as the club chases its first finals appearance since 2011.
“I’ll be here,’’ he said.
Former Sydney and Fremantle assistant coach Stone is contracted to Glenelg for next year.
He admitted he had endured a rough start to his Tigers’ senior coaching career after the club started the season 3-9 before closing its campaign with six consecutive wins — its best run since winning seven straight matches from rounds 15 to 22, 2010.
The Bays, who beat back-to-back premier Sturt by five points at the Bay on Sunday following a Marlon Motlop goal on the siren, finished sixth this year with a 9-9 record.
But their strong finish to the season, which included wins against finalists Sturt, South Adelaide and North Adelaide, suggests they have laid the foundations for future success.
Stone said he was “thrilled’’ with his team’s end-of-season progress after a year in which he learnt a lot as senior coach — about himself, the team and club.
He revealed that his intensity spilt over at times and that he “wasn’t always pleasant to be around’’ as he pushed hard for a greater level of professionalism.
This resulted in assistant coaches Nathan McDowell and Michael McFadyen leaving before the end of the season.
“We’ve had a tough year and some tough times early,’’ he said.
“I wasn’t always pleasant to be around because I felt our standards weren’t high enough — as in the way we trained, the way we prepared to train, the way we dressed, the way we conducted ourselves, a whole range of things on standards.
“The leaders were feeling that, that I was hard, there were a couple of assistant coaches who left, so I’ve done the back half of the year on my own really with the help of Narelle Smith (reserves coach).
“But the leaders have grabbed hold of it and our standards are now really good.
“Overall, across the year, I am really pleased. It’s helped me grow. I’m learning a lot about man management, about all those things that you don’t have (to worry about) as an assistant in the AFL.
“It’s been a growth year for the whole club but we’ve got to make sure that when we hit the barriers next year and we are all level again that we don’t go, ‘oh, well, we won our last six’, because the grind starts again.’’
Glenelg hopes to re-sign key forward Liam McBean, who watched the Sturt game at the Bay, and lockdown defender Brad Agnew, who did not play this year as they travelled overseas.
andrew.capel@news.com.au