North Melbourne says it can cope with financial hit of paying out Rhyce Shaw as Alastair Clarkson shares his concerns for coaches
Decorated Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson has expressed his concerns about the mental toll coaching can have, following Rhyce Shaw’s struggles at North Melbourne. He says it’s time the AFL as an industry, did more about it.
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Coaching great Alastair Clarkson on Monday night issued a warning cry for the mental health of senior coaches as North Melbourne draws up a shortlist of contenders to replace coach Rhyce Shaw.
Clarkson last night said he was “concerned for our profession” as the extraordinary toll of coaching was laid bare by Shaw’s issues.
The Roos continue to work to support Shaw, who remains away from the club after taking an indefinite period of personal leave.
It seems unlikely he will coach next year, with North Melbourne to consider the likes of Michael Voss, Adam Kingsley, Robert Harvey and the band of senior aspirants.
AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan said on Monday Shaw’s condition was improving after a hellish season saw him step away from the club in recent weeks.
But four-time premiership coach Clarkson made clear Shaw’s troubles were far from an isolated position after the savage toll taken on coaches including Danny Frawley and James Hird.
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Frawley took his own life as he battled mental health issues and Hird survived a suicide attempt in the wake of the supplements scandal, but Clarkson said those issues were far from isolated.
“I’m a bit concerned for our profession to be fair,” Clarkson told AFL 360.
“I look at the list I made up earlier – Hirdy, Bomber Thompson, Bails (Dean Bailey), Walshy (Phil Walsh), Laids (Dean Laidley), Spud Frawley, Pykey (Don Pyke), now Rhyce Shaw and there is probably others too who have done it tough.
“In our industry and our country because it’s a small fish bowl not a large fish bowl, any coach who does it particularly tough, he has to carry that in his public life more so than what a coach would have to do in a much bigger market like America or Europe.
“That carries an enormous strain for many in our industry and I’ve got concerns given the high quality of all of those lads I’ve mentioned because some have lost their lives and not directly as a result of coaching but some of it had been stress-related.
“It’s sad what happens to such decorated people in our game.
“I’m concerned and I think the game should be concerned because it’s an enormous burden to carry and we need to be doing something as individual clubs and individual coaches too.
“I think we’ve always looked after everyone else in the club and put everyone else in the club before ourselves and maybe it’s time to take stock ourselves to sort out what our work flow is and our schedule because it’s now getting to a point where we are seeing real casualties out of our industry and I don’t think it’s a good thing.”
The Roos are in a financial position to settle Rhyce Shaw’s contract and pay an experienced replacement but will do so with sensitivity.
The club must now consider the delicate process of working to replace Shaw, ideally by the AFL trade period, without having had much meaningful contact with him in recent weeks.
It means the club is not fully aware of his progress after time away from the club.
Shaw has a contract for next season and then a clause for 2022 that involves both him and the club negotiating for that season if results had gone his way.
The Roos could negotiate a settlement with Shaw on his 2021 deal but it is not known how much of that contract would go into next year’s football department cap.
The club is still paying former senior coach Brad Scott’s wage this season and had agreed with him to spread that payment out until the 2021 season.
But it was confirmed last night its financial obligations to Scott, which were reduced when he took up an AFL position, would be paid out in the 2020 football year.
The Roos, which will remarkably declare an eighth straight profit despite the COVID crisis, are believed to be extremely comfortable with the amount they will pay to move on staff.
AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan was asked yesterday if he had spoken to Shaw and indicated he had made contact.
“I have had the right conversations, I won’t speak for Rhyce other than he is going better and well,” he said.
“And obviously the club are working through that and have had the right discussions.
“Our number one priority is Rhyce’s health and wellbeing. I know that he and the people around him know he has the support of the AFL in any way we can to help.”
Clubs which made staff redundant to reduce their payroll this year will not have to include that money in the next year’s football department cap.
But clubs which simply sacked staff to replace them with others will have to absorb that money into the $6.2 million soft cap.
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VOSS THE ROO: THE CASE FOR LEGEND’S COACHING RETURN
The same factors that handed Michael Voss Brisbane’s coaching job on a platter in 2008 seemingly discounted him as he tried to find a second home.
Back then he was footy’s brightest coaching prospect.
In quick succession, Voss and fellow Brownlow medallists Nathan Buckley and James Hird all returned to coach the clubs they had captained.
But the triple premiership hero was sacked by the Lions almost five seasons into his tenure.
It was seen to mean papers stamped.
Clubs appointing second-chance heroes as senior coaches has never been de rigueur.
This year though, during football’s most gruelling season, the success of born-again leader Brett Ratten at St Kilda might have opened the path for his return to a job he has coveted since his shock removal by Brisbane in 2013.
Voss has patiently bided his time – going for and missing roles – as the AFL has cycled through a series of trends including the father-figure, the tactical genius, the Clarkson acolyte and, last year, the successful caretaker coach.
Port Adelaide’s hierarchy believes he is perfectly equipped and would be interested in certain circumstances after missing last year’s trio of vacant jobs.
Voss has gone away and assembled the perfect skill set to become the coach North Melbourne so desperately needs if it is that Rhyce Shaw cannot return in his current role.
He can be more than just the fall-guy who comes in for two seasons of unrelenting pain as the Roos commit to the mother of all rebuilds.
Granted, Voss has the gravitas and stature to absorb the heavy on-field losses.
Like Ratten before him, he has gone away and blunted those rough edges that saw him turfed in the first place.
Both were unlucky to be removed from their first jobs — Ratten at Carlton by the Mick Malthouse tsunami,
Voss with his board worried about grumbling players and spooked by Paul Roos’ seeming availability.
Ratten went to the finishing school of Clarkson and Voss went to Port Adelaide as midfield coach under Ken Hinkley.
They have emerged with wisdom in man management and tactical nous, with Power playing a contest-heavy, front-half game that is sustainable in modern football.
As Voss said last year before missing the Carlton job that went to David Teague, he got to work on his weaknesses rather than bide his time.
“If my name won me my first role, I’m hoping that the skill sets win me my second,” he said.
“There‘s no doubt clearly that my name was an influencing factor to the last time around.
“The time’s been spent to try and go back and better yourself and make yourself better at what you do.”
If North Melbourne and Shaw decide the club is in need of a new coach, they would need to hand him a four-year deal and then back him in through those early seasons.
But installing a coach of Voss’s calibre by the draft period would at least give the club a chance to lure some established players to Arden St.
Until then, who would want to go to North Melbourne?
Well, as it turns out plenty of AFL players who want to pay a mortgage and can be guaranteed opportunities are prepared to go to clubs in the bottom eight, as Gold Coast found with Hugh Greenwood and Brandon Ellis last year.
The Roos’ coaching search will have to be done with sensitivity and respect for Shaw’s position.
But if the Roos are to venture into uncharted territory — bravely rebuilding at a club that people said could never afford to do just that — Voss has not only the name but the resume to back it up.
MCGUANE BACKS VOSS FOR ROOS TOP JOB
– Glenn McFarlane and Lauren Wood
North Melbourne should target Port Adelaide senior assistant Michael Voss if Rhyce Shaw doesn’t coach the club next year, according to leading football analyst and Herald Sun columnist Mick McGuane.
It comes as Shaw’s former coach Mick Malthouse admitted he “feared” for Rhyce Shaw’s “wellbeing” when he took the top job at North Melbourne.
The Kangaroos announced on Friday that Shaw had taken extended leave for personal reasons. His future at the club remains in doubt, with the club considering contingency plans for 2021.
And North Melbourne champion Wayne Carey has described his former club as “an absolute shambles”, saying its key off-field officials have failed to provide assurance to fans during a time of crisis.
McGuane said his thoughts were on Shaw’s wellbeing first and foremost, but said the Kangaroos had to look at options in case he chooses not to return.
“There is so much more to life than footy, so Rhyce’s health is the most important thing,” McGuane told the Sunday Herald Sun.
“If Rhyce chooses not to coach, and if I was (Kangaroos chairman) Ben Buckley, I would be getting straight on the phone to Michael Voss and asking him about his intentions for next year.
“He (Voss) is the perfect candidate. He was hugely respected as one of the greatest players of the modern era. He has had coaching experience from Brisbane and while it didn’t end up the way he wanted it to … he has swallowed his pride and got back in the system.
“He has spent time learning about the different aspects of coaching, which would complete the fullness of him as a coach now.”
ROBBO: WHY ROOS CAN’T LET SHAW COACH IN 2021
McGuane said Voss – who coached Brisbane for five seasons from 2009 to 2013 – would have learnt from his recent experiences, including as Ken Hinkley’s right-hand man with the Power.
“Leigh Matthews once told me, ‘I believe I will be a better coach second time around’ and he won three flags at Brisbane after coaching Collingwood,” McGuane said. “One thing I do know is that the Voss name at the North Melbourne Football Club would be huge.”
It is not known if Voss would be willing to take on the role if it becomes available, but the likelihood of Paul Roos taking on a part-time advisory role is firming.
Long-time Swans assistant coach John Blakey has joined North Melbourne, but has no interest in being the senior coach.
Malthouse encouraged clubs to distance young coaches from social media, saying Shaw’s capacity to throw “everything into it” left him concerned.
“Hopefully we’ll never have to go through a year like this again,” Malthouse said on ABC Radio.
“I hate to say … but I spoke (off-air a few weeks ago) and said when Rhyce was appointed, that I feared for his mental wellbeing.
“Because I know what Rhyce is like – he throws everything into it and he wears his heart on his sleeve, and just the little pick-ups I got on screen.
“You’ve got to be involved, of course, and you’ve got to throw your life into it. But you’ve got to be able to have balance.
“One of the constants that I’ve had all the way through is a wife and kids who were very supportive, and when we had a function, or a birthday or something, it became that time. It wasn’t football. Rhyce, yes, he’s got a wonderful wife and kids, but my belief is that Rhyce took the job on and just went hell for it and let nothing over, so he slept it and ate it and did it for 24 hours a day.
“There’s a real breaking point. And clearly, that breaking point’s happened. And it will continually happen with young coaches unless they get really good support and guidance by football clubs.”
Malthouse said the football environment “could not have been more different” when he ended his coaching career in 2015, having first taken the reins of an AFL-VFL team in 1984. And he said social media should be a key element that is removed from coaches’ psyche.
“Clubs that bring on young coaches … they should take away any social media that he could look at or is going to influence him,” he said.
“I know everyone wants it, but to take it away from him so he’s not reading it at night, and finding out how good or how bad and what people are really saying about him. Because that would get under your skin.”
He also said that having senior coaching assistants or advisers should not be dismissed.
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Carey said a lack of communication from the key powerbrokers, including chairman Ben Buckley, has left him frustrated.
“Clearly our thoughts go out to Rhyce and his family and you hope he gets well and footy is secondary to what he’s going through,” Carey said on Triple M.
“What’s disappointing for me, being just an ex-North Melbourne player, is that who have we heard from? We had a statement from Ben Buckley that came out to tell us a little bit in and around what’s going on with the senior coach Rhyce Shaw, but who else have we heard from?
“This is the concerning thing for me … I really respect (CEO) Ben Amarfio, he’s new in the job, obviously (football boss) Brady Rawlings, new in the job … all of these people that we’re speaking about, I mean (Glenn) Archer’s a director that’s had a lot to do with putting Rhyce in the job and other key decisions.
“We haven’t heard from anyone. When things are going bad like they are for North, and I think ‘bad’ is a kind word to use, it’s catastrophic, why haven’t we heard from any of these key people?”
Port boss backs Voss for Roos job
– Simeon Thomas-Wilson
Port Adelaide’s footy boss says Voss has “positioned himself” well for the next senior coaching job to come up in AFL circles as the Brisbane Lions legend continues to be linked with a role at North Melbourne.
Power general manager of football Chris Davies said Voss, the senior assistant coach at Port, was not contracted for 2021 and the club and the Lions great was working through his future.
“Michael is not contracted for next year as it stands but we are working through that with Michael at the moment,” he said.
“The soft cap is having implications across the competition.”
The Power have announced that development coach Geoff Morris would not return to the club in 2021.
Davies said outside of Voss there were other members of Ken Hinkley’s coaching panel that should be considered for senior coaching gigs when they come up.
“Clearly Michael has done some really good work here at Port Adelaide over time and I think he has positioned himself well for the next senior coaching role that comes up,” he said.
“But that’s not to say we don’t have others, I think our assistant coaching panel are a really good group of guys.”
But Davies said he wasn’t expecting a number of Power assistants to depart.
“We’ve announced that Geoff morris won’t be at the club for next year, Geoff won’t return,” he said.
“Nathan Bassett will be at Port Adelaide next year, so you can draw a line through that and we are working through Michael’s situation.
“That does have a layer of complexity around it given he has a senior coaching dream which he has told you about recently.”
Originally published as North Melbourne says it can cope with financial hit of paying out Rhyce Shaw as Alastair Clarkson shares his concerns for coaches