North Melbourne chairman James Brayshaw says Kangaroos building for sustained success
JAMES Brayshaw wouldn't be so bold to brag, but the movement at Arden St this off-season conjures memories of the mid 1970s.
JAMES Brayshaw wouldn't be so bold to brag, but the movement at Arden St this off-season conjures memories of the mid 1970s.
Back then, under Ron Barassi, it was about luring players, such as Barry Davis and Doug Wade and John Rantall, and a premiership followed.
Today, under Brad Scott, it was about luring staff, such as Geoff Walsh, Gavin Brown, Leigh Tudor and Cameron Ling ... and who knows if a premiership will follow.
Still, Brayshaw's chuffed. The building blocks are being put in place.
"I can’t talk for previous administrations, but certainly in my time as a director or as the chairman, it’s the healthiest support around our senior coach by far," Brayshaw said.
"It needed to get to this level, we’ve worked hard to get to this level, so we’re really pleased to give Brad what he needs to succeed."
The off-field recruiting as been exemplary.
Walsh (football manager), Brown (development), Tudor (assistant) and Ling (leadership) have replaced Brett Allison, Donald McDonald (commercial role, John Lamont and Brady Rawlings, and Brayshaw said it didn’t blow up the club’s budget.
"We made a priority back in 2007, when our footy department spending was the lowest in the comp, that it couldn’t stay that way," Brayshaw said.
"It’s taken a while to get the expenditure to levels we’re really happy with, but we’re at 100 per cent of the cap for the first time in my time, and we’re also in a position to give Brad exactly the support we think he needs.
"We’re getting there, we’re not there yet."
Good football clubs not only identify problems on and off the field, but also act on them.
Tudor was perfect. He worked under Ross Lyon, Mark Thompson and John Longmire, and will bring defensive expertise to the club, an aspect which let the Kangaroos down this year.
"The footy department did a full review at the end of the year and they identified Leigh Tudor as someone who we needed badly," Brayshaw said.
North Melbourne won 10 games this season, losing 11 games under three and a bit goals.
Fingers were pointed everywhere, and while no-one was entirely to blame, the club’s leadership was questioned.
So, enter Cameron Ling. The Cats premiership skipper will work one day a week with the leadership group.
Proudly, Ling's commitment to the club -- ahead of perhaps 10 other clubs chasing him -- would be something not envisaged four years ago.
With a list expected to boom, a deep off-field and hooks into Nick Dal Santo, Brayshaw says it’s about sustained success.
But he baulked at announcing that a premiership beckoned.
"We’ve been really careful about building for sustained on-field success," he said. "We don’t want to build for five minutes in the sun, we’ve borrowed heavily from the Geelong model, we want to put a system together behind an elite senior coach which will give our club five, 10 years of on-field success.
"We still have enormous work to do, but with each Geoff Walsh, but with each Leigh Tudor, and each Gavin Brown we appoint, we think we’re getting closer, and we think it’s exciting."
Still, Brayshaw said self belief among the players had be boosted by the recent appointments.
"I remember back when we started in 2007, the facilities were not as good as a lot of amateur clubs and we were having to prepay to pay the minimum of the salary cap, Dean Laidley was operating with two assistants and one part-time, we had virtually no recruiting staff supporting our head of recruiting, we had no development, there were times back then when our footballers were legitimately questioning whether they were at the right club.
"There's no way they can question that now."