Sacked podcast 2022: Corey McKernan’s troubled relationship with Denis Pagan

Denis Pagan’s famously tough coaching style wore Corey McKernan down over his years at North Melbourne leading him to head to Carlton. And then Denis followed him to the Navy Blues a year later.

DUAL premiership star Corey McKernan says he should have called an end to his decorated career the day Denis Pagan was announced as Carlton’s coach.

McKernan has lifted the lid on the final difficult seasons of his career in the Herald Sun’s Sacked podcast and his strained relationship with legendary coach Pagan.

Corey McKernan and Denis Pagan celebrate a Kangaroos win in 1999.

McKernan says in his final year in his first stint at North Melbourne he felt such pressure to perform he should never have played in a game in which he failed to register a single possession.

In the first of his two seasons at Carlton he was in a deep form slump that saw him fail to gather double-figure possession tallies in six early-season games before bouncing back to win the club’s best-and-fairest.

At one stage he broke down in front of doctor Phil Perlstein as he battled with the stresses of playing.

He believes he would have benefited from the kind of mindfulness training used by Richmond in its recent premiership-winning seasons.

Pagan was famously tough on his players and it wore McKernan down over the years, with the ruck-forward moving to Carlton in 2002, only to be followed a year later by Pagan.

McKernan told Sacked he and Pagan had a deep respect but by the end it was a non-working relationship.

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“I always say to people about the reason for wanting a change that there was an enormous amount of respect for Denis Pagan but at the end of the day it wasn’t getting the best out of one another,” McKernan said.

“So that’s why I made the change. I wasn’t enjoying my football and wasn’t enjoying the environment that we were playing in.

“And even though I started very slowly and had those tough times early, to be able to win those Carlton fans over and win the best-and-fairest was one of the best things I ever did in football.”

Corey McKernan says winning the Carlton best-and-fairest was one of the best things he ever did.

Then came a bombshell soon after he had won the Blues’ 2002 best and fairest.

“Jason McCartney is one of my best mates and he was winding me up saying there is a strong rumour that Denis Pagan is going to come to Carlton,” he said.

“Given I had won the best-and-fairest and gone somewhere else I didn’t take the news as the greatest I had ever heard and so there was some banter going back and forwards.

“I was overseas and landed at Tullamarine Airport and there were no phones allowed so I have got no idea Denis is going to be coach at Carlton and I walked up to the gentleman at customs.

“And he actually took a look at my passport and looked at me and he said, ‘Gee, you’ll be happy with the new coach’.

“That’s when I found out Denis was going to be coaching at Carlton. So I remember I got on the phone to Stephen Kernahan straight away and I wasn’t overly enthused with it.

“It’s not as if we had a toxic relationship or anything like that. It just doesn’t work.

“It was incredibly tough. But I was prepared to give it a go out of respect for the great relationships I have with Stephen Kernahan. Sticks said, ‘Give it a go, big fella’.

“And truth be known, after that first season I should have retired.

“It had taken so much out of me from a mental point of view. And it’s no slight on Denis at all. This is more about the fact that the environment when I played footy didn’t work.

“We both respect one another but it didn’t work where I got the best out of myself and I should have retired after that first year but instead went back to North Melbourne and really just drifted into retirement.”

McKernan says his views on Pagan has softened over the years even if he would have thrived with the praise of his achievements that only came post-career.

“There was an article on great finals performances of all time that (the Herald Sun published). To hear him talk about my performance in the (1996) Grand Final where he said, ‘I know Glenn Archer is one of my favourites but for mine Corey was best on ground’, it meant the world to me. I wished Denis had said something like that when I was playing,” he said.

“Our relationship didn’t work in the end but trust me, for the stuff we did together I am incredibly grateful and I think of the habits Denis has taught me.

Reading that Denis Pagan though of him as the best on the ground in the 1996 grand final meant the world to Corey McKernan.

“Not wearing sunglasses to the Grand Final parade was a weird one but working hard and preparation, they are things I still use in my life to this day.”

Originally published as Sacked podcast 2022: Corey McKernan’s troubled relationship with Denis Pagan