AFL shutdown: Coaches being told to find other jobs is a wake up call, McGuane

No one wants to see good people lose their jobs, but will necessary cuts to football departments improve AFL football in the long-run? AFL great Mick McGuane asks the question.

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There are AFL assistant coaches I’ve spoken to this week who have been told that if they can get a job packing fruit boxes, take it.

It’s the worst experience I’ve ever encountered in the game.

Good people who are well and truly renowned as football people are being offered advice to say, ‘well, if you can get a job, and you want to get a job, and you need a job, go and find one: Because we can’t promise you that when we return, if we do return this year, that there’s a job there for you.’

AFL coaches and assistants are feeling the heat with the AFL in shutdown. Picture: AAP.

People are losing their jobs, not only for the short term but it could turn into a long-term disconnection with the game.

For some, football has been all they’ve known for their entire lifetime, and all of a sudden they’ve been hit between the eyes with reality.

They’re asking the same questions as so many Australians out there. What’s next? Where do I go to?

Some guys I’ve spoken to are financially viable. Some have just started out and they’re not financially viable.

If a position of employment becomes available in the next few weeks, do you take it and look after your family, or do you wait and procrastinate in the hope that something comes your way in the footy club you were previously employed with?

You’ll have to make a decision and live with it for the rest of your life. This is exactly where these people are at.

I don’t think there will be any promises or guarantees or any dialogue to say,’ mate, you’ll be sweet, we’re pretty confident you’ll get your job back.’ Because I don’t think anyone can say that.

We could be at stage 3 of this coronavirus for the next three months or even longer.

This is the life of those people inside the four walls of football clubs right at the moment.

There are assistant coaches that clubs would be desperate not to lose. Same with development coaches. But in these dire straits that we find ourselves in, the AFL clubs have to make these hard decisions for them to survive.

Some assistant coaches are being told to find other jobs if they can during the shutdown.

Football departments might get slashed so comprehensively that we get back to the simple model of coach, assistant coach and general manager of football, statistician and runner.

We will not see those layers that are on a coaching staff now.

Line coaches, development coaches, leadership co-ordinators, sports scientists, skill acquisition coaches, opposition analysis, IT systems administrators, data co-ordinators, leadership and cultural managers, performance analysts, game intelligence managers, ruck coaches, stoppage coaches, multiple game day analysts and statisticians.

That iconic photo we saw of Essendon last year showing the coach’s box with 16 laptops. I guarantee you, that won’t be there when we come back.

I’ll stress I don’t want to see anyone lose their jobs, we’re talking about people’s livelihoods here.

But this is a chance to recalibrate. And ask ourselves, have we overspent in the past? Have we turned football departments into an arms race to try and gain any advantage?

I suppose you only put them on if you can afford to pay them, but maybe this is the reality check the game needs.

From a football purist’s perspective – I reckon coaches have become servants to data and this is a way of eliminating some of that based on costs.

This crisis may be a wake up call for AFL coaches, says footy legend Mick McGuane. Picture: Wayne Ludbey.

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Let your eyes tell you what’s happening, rather than getting told what’s happened. Bring back the gut feel and footy intuition of a coach. His instinct rather than the numbers.

We’ve probably lost that human element of the game, but I’d love to find out again, which coaches can coach?

Also, do lists remain at 44? I think they should look at bringing the list size down to 35. You can always look to adapt that number again once clubs become operational again, but perhaps a lesser number might be more appropriate in the short term.

One thing I am sure of is the competition won’t eat its own. It’s really important that as much as we are tribal about our clubs, that we think first and foremost about the greater good of the game.

Sacrifices need to be made.

Originally published as AFL shutdown: Coaches being told to find other jobs is a wake up call, McGuane