SACKED podcast: Damian Drum admits to secretly being courted for Collingwood coaching job

As pressure mounted on Tony Shaw at Collingwood in 1998, the club held secret talks with Damian Drum. For the first time, he speaks on the SACKED podcast about how close he came to being Collingwood’s coach.

Damien Drum says there was a stage in 1998 where he had the Fremantle and Collingwood coaching jobs.

Former Fremantle coach Damian Drum has spoken of his regret at being secretly courted by Collingwood in Tony Shaw’s third season as he finally admitted he was offered the Pies’ senior coaching in 1998.

Drum told the Herald Sun’s Sacked podcast it was a “dark process” for him as he desperately tried to secure a senior coaching job after narrowly missing out to good mate Neale Daniher (Melbourne) and Jeff Gieschen (Richmond).

Drum was the star assistant at Sydney and was courted by a Collingwood subcommittee keen to replace third-year coach Shaw despite him being contracted for the following season in 1999.

He was officially offered Shaw’s role by the Collingwood board behind the back of the Pies Norm Smith Medallist and premiership hero as Fremantle came late with their own three-year offer.

Drum was worried some Pies board members did not want to play kids to rebuild and concedes he over-estimated Fremantle’s ageing list.

Drum pictured during his time coaching Fremantle.

Drum was courted by Collingwood in 1998.

History will show that Shaw survived as his supporters launched a rearguard action to save him but if Drum was hired the club might never have secured premiership coach Mick Malthouse a season later.

Drum has little to apologise for given the long history of secret negotiations for senior coaching positions but he still feels uneasy about how that difficult chapter played out.

“I think we can talk honestly about it now,” he told Sacked, laying bare those secret talks for the first time 26 years later.

“Collingwood contacted me halfway through the year and it was Tony Shaw’s third year.

“We have these meetings in secret. Predominantly with a small group, a sub committee who appoints the coach and they say after the third meeting, ‘You are the one we want.’

But you need to meet the whole committee.

Drum was set to be Tony Shaw’s replacement at Collingwood.

“So I flew down to Melbourne to meet everyone and a couple of them didn’t want a third year in my contract and a large portion of them were sceptical about going the way of youth. They were saying we should be able to rebuild by bringing in some (established talent) and I said that’s not my experience. It might have been that day I got a call from Fremantle.

“And in the end Fremantle came in and just offered three years and they said they were happy to go with youth. They said we need to go with someone who will bring the kids through. For two days I had both jobs. And I had to make the decision. As it turned out I reckon I misunderstood or overrated Fremantle.”

Shaw told Sacked in 2019 he was shocked that the club had gone behind his back, saying president Kevin Rose had denied the interest in Drum when he confronted him.

“I couldn’t see it coming. It was a blindsider. Lucky we had some very loyal board members. It wasn’t all the board. One board member called me and said, ‘This is happening’, and I said, ‘I can’t believe it’.

“I had the president in and I was pretty hard. I said, “I will never trust you again, I will never speak to you”.

Shaw and Rose have since repaired that relationship, with Drum’s code of honour meaning it has never set well with him.

“It was a dark process for me to go through. I wish I hadn’t done it. Because Tony was contracted and we started talking maybe halfway through the year. As it turned out Malthouse was able to do a brilliant job when he took over that team and I got my opportunity at Fremantle. It didn’t work out but they gave me the licence I was looking for to go to the draft and bring talent in and see where we went.”

Originally published as SACKED podcast: Damian Drum admits to secretly being courted for Collingwood coaching job