AFL Coaches Association president Mark Brayshaw reveals how senior coaches have reacted to COVID-19 shutdown

Fearing his assistants would lose their homes, one AFL coach offered to have them live at his place. As AFL Coaches Association boss Mark Brayshaw writes, it’s been a typically selfless response from the league’s senior coaches.

As the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic took its cruel grip across the country, I spoke to one of the 18 AFL senior coaches — the First XVIII as they’re increasingly becoming in my eyes.

Each AFL club had just stood down about 90 per cent of staff after two bruising days of heartache and my role as chief executive of the AFL Coaches Association had changed overnight.

“I’m really worried about our assistant coaches,” this senior coach told me.

“And if it gets so bad that they can’t afford to pay the rent, then they can come and live at my place and I’ll just give them whatever money they need.”

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Almost every assistant coach is among those stood down, all of whom will soon be either living off leave balances, the Federal Government’s weekly allowance, or whatever part-time work they can scramble together.

These are trusted work colleagues who have now become friends in need.

Senior coaches have been concerned by job cuts in football departments caused by the COVID-19 shutdown.

And, like so many in society at the moment, they are also breadwinners in real trouble.

This senior coach’s response highlights the superb way the First XVIII have selflessly led during the past three weeks.

It seems like months ago, but during 90 minutes on the afternoon of March 18 each of them agreed to offer their clubs a 20 per cent pay cut.

Since then, Geelong coach Chris Scott has been rightly lauded for offering to work free of charge, but I suspect he’s not the only one.

Each club has established a skeleton staff to run its football operations while the game is in lockdown.

Chris Scott will work for free during footy’s coronavirus shutdown.

These small pods are being paid a league-mandated $25,000 a week — in total, per club.

So it’s easy to forecast Scotty’s First XVIII colleagues quickly agreeing it’s more important to get one or two more in their club’s skeleton staff, than for them to dip into the weekly allowance.

Until last week, an AFL club’s football department was an amazing, high-performance beast comprising about 45 players and up to twice that number in off-field staff.

Some of the latter are part-timers, such as the doctor and psychologist.

Roughly 10 are full-time coaches.

Full-time coaches are at “the tip of the spear”, because they have the closest contact with the players and they bear the brunt of poor performance in a vastly different way from the rest of the off-field team.

Over-arching the economic uncertainty of the moment, is an unseemly discussion calling into question the value of many of the AFL football department staff who have been so abruptly told to leave their clubs.

AFL Coaches Association CEO Mark Brayshaw.

Assistant coaches are being particularly singled out, on the basis there are too many of them and that their contribution can easily be done without when the game resumes under significantly reduced budgets.

Parkinson’s Law, where work expands to fill time, most certainly does not apply at an AFL club.

Players have never been better looked after and that’s in large part due to the care provided by all their coaches.

Doubtless in the short term there will be a reduced headcount of coaches, but the 18 football departments will be worse for it. So, too, the players.

Australian rules football has a well-earned reputation for “being about people”.

Sure, there are 18 licences required to field a team at the elite level and there are billions of dollars at stake, but at its core the game is composed of wonderful people.

And, when the going gets tough, these people care for one another in a manner that I haven’t often seen in other industries.

I remember Alistair Clarkson and Nathan Buckley leading the Hawks and Pies players to form a commemorative circle out in the centre that Friday night in 2015, following the death of Crows’ coach Phil Walsh — and how that example was picked up throughout the country across all leagues.

Many are still deeply grieving Danny Frawley’s passing last September, but the people in our game helped Spud’s mates navigate that pathway. They still are.

Each AFL club could tell a moving story of how it has — behind the scenes — used its resources to help the country respond to the two most recent bushfire tragedies.

Leading by example comes naturally to the First XVIII and they’re doing a great job of it at the moment. Why wouldn’t they, with Neale Daniher to live up to?

Mark Brayshaw is chief executive of the AFL Coaches Association

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Originally published as AFL Coaches Association president Mark Brayshaw reveals how senior coaches have reacted to COVID-19 shutdown