Darryl Wakelin throws Mark Williams’ name into ring for vacant West Coast job
It’s still unclear who exactly is the frontrunner to be the next coach of West Coast, but a former Port Adelaide star has thrown a new name into the ring, wondering why they hadn’t been called.
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Does Mark Williams’ storeyed coaching career have another chapter to add?
One of his former Port Adelaide proteges believes ‘Choco’ should be near the front of the queue for the vacant West Coast coaching job.
The Eagles are one of the best-resourced teams in the AFL but with the prospect of a sustained rebuild on the horizon, the list of suitors is thinning by the day.
Among the leading contenders are two ex-Port Adelaide stars in Jarrad Schofield, the current Eagles interim coach, and GWS senior assistant Brett Montgomery.
But their former teammate and Power premiership hero Darryl Wakelin believes Eagles CEO Don Pyke should be picking up the phone to speak with Demons development coach, Williams.
“Why can’t a guy like him (do it)?” Wakelin told SEN.
“He is the best man manager, as far as spotting talent not only with footballers but with assistant coaches (and) conditioning coaches. If you look at his record it’s as good as any as far as spotting up-and-coming talent in the industry.
“And to bring a group together, to build a whole football department, he’s as good as there was and ahead of his time, certainly in the early 2000s. It’s bewildered me that Choco hasn’t been given another gig. I’d love to see him get another gig.”
With more than 40 years’ experience in the industry, Williams is among the most credentialed men in football not currently in a head coach role.
Still the only Port Adelaide coach to lead the club to an AFL premiership, the 66 year old has since gone on to be an assistant at GWS Giants, Richmond and Melbourne.
He was part of the coaching panel that led the Demons to a drought-breaking premiership in 2021 and only last year was awarded the AFL Coaches Association’s Development Coach of the Year.
Originally published as Darryl Wakelin throws Mark Williams’ name into ring for vacant West Coast job
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