Former AFL assistant coach Jade Rawlings signs three-year deal to coach SANFL club Norwood
Norwood has lured former AFL assistant coach Jade Rawlings to The Parade, signing the 148-game veteran to a three-year deal to replace Jarrod Cotton. ALL OFF-SEASON MOVES HERE
SANFL
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The big names continue to roll into the SANFL, with Norwood signing highly-rated former AFL assistant Jade Rawlings as its new senior coach.
He has signed a three-year deal.
Rawlings replaces Jarrod Cotton, who was cut with a year left on his contract.
The 43-year-old joins the Redlegs from North Melbourne, where he served as senior assistant coach.
He joins a strong list of new SANFL coaches for 2021, including Martin Mattner (Sturt), Brad Gotch (West Adelaide), who had been a contender for the Norwood job, Paul Thomas (Central District) and Michael Godden (Adelaide).
After playing 148 AFL games as a key position player for Hawthorn, the Western Bulldogs and the Kangaroos from 1996-2006, Rawlings embarked on a successful AFL assistant coaching career.
He started at Richnond in 2007, becoming caretaker senior coach for 11 games in 2009 following the departure of Terry Wallace.
Rawlings then spent two years at the Brisbane Lions under Michael Voss before crossing to Melbourne in 2012, where he served as backline coach for eight years before being poached by North Melbourne to be its senior assistant.
The brother of Kangaroos footy boss Brady Rawlings, Jade was a victim of the club’s shock coaching purge last month, being sacked despite having two seasons to run on a three-year contract in the aftermath of a disappointing, 17th-placed 2020 campaign.
Norwood chief executive James Fantasia said the club’s coach selection committee, which he headed, quickly identified Rawlings as someone “who had a firm vision of where he wanted to lead the football club going forward’’.
The highly-qualified committee included Fantasia, president Paul Di Iulio, football director Justin Staritski, former Crows chief executive Steven Trigg and dual Crows premiership captain Mark Bickley.
“After what was a thorough process, the committee was unanimous in its decision to appoint Jade as head coach of Norwood,’’ Fantasia said.
“He is respectful, well mannered and someone the selection committee was immediately drawn to.
“Jade’s professionalism and experience speak for itself, he has coached his own sides before and will bring a wealth of knowledge.
“He will be a tremendous asset for us and we’re really excited to have someone of Jade’s calibre at the club.’’
MARQUEE PLAYER FOR 2021 SEASON
SANFL clubs will be allowed to sign a “marquee player’’ next season as part of sweeping changes to the salary cap system.
With the cap cut dramatically from $400,000 to $210,000 next year as the league deals with the financial fallout from COVID-19, each club has been granted access to one marquee player who is eligible to sign for a maximum upfront payment of $25,000.
This does not include match payments, with the best players commanding about $750 a game, but the cost must be included in each club’s salary cap.
The deal was negotiated with the stand-alone eight SANFL clubs as the league attempts to keep its standard high while reducing costs during the virus pandemic.
Under the new payment schedule, clubs can also sign former AFL players who are returning to their original SANFL clubs for a maximum of $20,000.
All other sign-on payments are capped at $15,000.
The SANFL is still negotiating with AFL clubs Adelaide and Port Adelaide about their conditions of re-entry into the competition next year after both clubs were forced to withdraw their reserves sides from the State League competition this year because of COVID-19.
“The change was implemented to give clubs a bit more flexibility with their lists, an option to get a bigger name player if they want one,’’ SANFL general manager football Matt Duldig said of the marquee player payment.
With the SANFL cutting costs in the short term, player sign-on fees have been cut by an average of $5000.
While there is concern about key players leaving the competition because of the massive reduction in salary cap, players will financially benefit from the JobKeeper program running until March, which lessens the financial blow.
Players this year played only for JobKeeper payment because of the significant financial impact of the pandemic and a cap on crowds.
“Both the league and SANFL clubs have taken a significant hit through loss of revenue streams as a result of COVID,” Duldog said.
“Ultimately we must ensure that every SANFL club can be sustainable and successful into the future. To do this we must make player payments affordable for all clubs to ensure an even competition.’’
HAYES LEAVES EAGLES’ NEST
SANFL premier Woodville-West Torrens has been dealt a major blow, with star key forward Nick Hayes moving to Melbourne for personal reasons.
Hayes, 26 and an integral part of the Eagles’ attack, has accepted a job as a civil engineer in Melbourne, where his girlfriend also is based.
“He’ll be a big loss for us,’’ said Eagles premiership coach Jade Sheedy.
“Nick’s been a terrific player for us for a long time but he was a junior here once and we believe we’ve got some good young players coming through who can play a role for us. We’ll also look to recruit a couple of players.’’
Hayes, who spent two years at the Brisbane Lions in 2013-14 but did not manage an AFL game, has kicked 118 goals in 113 games.
The Eagles, who broke a nine-year flag drought by beating North Adelaide in this year’s grand final, are expected to be hit hard in next month’s AFL draft.
Gun teenage defender Lachlan Jones will end up at Port Adelaide where he is a Next Generation Academy prospect, small forward and joint Ken Farmer medallist James Rowe should find an AFL home and rebounding half-back flanker Jacob Wehr, an elite left-foot kick, also should get drafted.
Sheedy this week described pocket rocket Rowe as “the most talented player in the SANFL’’.
Jack Oatey medallist Jordan Foote, who is weighing up a return to Sydney, wingman Lachlan McNeil and defender Rhyan Mansell also have their AFL admirers.
Sheedy said star mid-season VFL pick-up James Tsitas had indicated he would return to Oval Avenue next season but fellow VFL recruit Sam Lowson was undecided about his future.
West Adelaide, meanwhile, has been boosted by the return of former Crows AFL forward Jono Beech after a year in Queensland.
Beech, 30, played in the Bloods’ last premiership side in 2015 after winning the best and fairest the previous year.
Captain Tom Keough has a new deal to play next season under new coach Brad Gotch.
Norwood, which will this week name a new coach to replace Jarrod Cotton, has lost AFL recruit Ryan Bastinac, who returns to Queensland.
GOTCHA - BLOODS SIGN NEW COACH
WEST Adelaide has pulled off a coaching coup, luring Brad Gotch back from Melbourne and handing him the task of lifting it off the bottom of the ladder.
The highly-respected Gotch, who coached South Adelaide to the SANFL preliminary final in 2014, lost his development coach’s job at Collingwood during the season due to COVID-19 financial cuts.
He has signed a two-year deal with the Bloods, who mutually agreed to part ways with previous mentor Gavin Colville after consecutive wooden spoons.
Colville stepped down after three years in the role, despite having a year left on his contract, citing family reasons.
Gotch, 58., was Collingwood’s Academy coach and coach education manager.
He previously coached VFL club Williamstown to a flag and was an AFL assistant coach at Port Adelaide before spending three years at South from 2014-16.
West chief executive Ben Hopkins said Gotch’s extensive experience in the AFL and State league football would be a great asset for the club.
“With a proven track record of creating and developing high performance cultures, Brad is an exceptional leader and highly regarded across the football industry,’’ Hopkins said.
“His coaching record speaks for itself. Having led strong programs both in the SANFL and interstate, we saw him as a strong candidate for the role straight away and he confirmed that with the way he conducted himself throughout the process.
“He brings a wealth of knowledge and experience which can only help us in our quest to continually improve our football club.
“His energy and enthusiasm for the role was evident from the moment we engaged with him and we’re excited about him leading our group into 2021.’’
Prior to coaching, Gotch played 96 VFL games for Fitzroy (43 games) and St Kilda (53) from 1982-90 as well as 11 SANFL games for Port in 1985.
Gotch said he was “:super excited’’ by his next coaching challenge.
“The whole interview process was as professional as I have experienced and the passion shown by all was enough to convince me that this role was the fit for me and I can see exciting times ahead,’’ he said.