NAB League ‘brain drain’: region managers and coaches leave elite under-age competition
Some of the NAB League’s most experienced region managers and best coaches have dropped out of the elite under-age competition as the AFL makes change.
NAB League
Don't miss out on the headlines from NAB League. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Some of Victorian football’s most experienced under-age talent assessors and accomplished coaches have dropped out of the NAB League amid upheaval to the under-age competition.
Long-serving Geelong Falcons region manager Michael Turner and Dandenong Stingrays stalwart Darren Flanigan have left their roles, as have Sean Toohey of the Eastern Ranges and Rhy Gieschen of the Northern Knights.
In the coaching ranks, Eastern’s long-serving mentor and former Essendon champion Darren Bewick, Northern Knights’ Justin Wenke and Sandringham Dragons’ Josh Bourke have called it quits.
Victorian metropolitan coach Paul Corrigan is tipped to take over from coach Luke Daffy at the Falcons, and Tom Lonergan, who had been at Calders Cannons, is expected to assume Turner’s position, which he had held since 1995.
The management and coaching structure of the NAB League is being revamped as it goes to Under 19 and Under 17 level next year.
Coaches are being made full-time, will guide the girls and boys teams, and will be responsible for identifying the teenage talents to bring into the programs, as well as AFL and local club liaison and contact with schools.
Coaches who were part-time had to reapply for their jobs.
Bourke, Bewick and Daffy opted out, unable to put in greater hours.
“With the reset and the restructure of what the role looked like, it was a challenge for me to be able to commit to something like that,” Daffy told the Geelong Advertiser.
“Obviously a really difficult decision with how invested you are with the club and particularly the playing group that we started off with last year.
“In the end, the timing’s probably not quite right at this point in time for me and someone else will get that opportunity, which, for them, I’m sure they’d be really grateful for.”
Bourke told Leader: “I’d sort of processed it, that I wouldn’t be able to continue if it was going to full-time, and there was never any guarantee I would have got it.
“It’s disappointing, because I sit there and think I was getting better. You learn the role and you make changes, and I felt like we as a club had really set up our pre-season better for this year and had a far greater impact on the players. And players’ performances were indicating that.
“So from that perspective I’m a bit sad, because we were doing things better and we were improving the product.’’
The region managers’ roles will become more admin — “ad admin assistant to the head coach,’’ one official who contacted Leader said.
The job has been renamed the “regional talent operations lead’’.
“Why? Who knows? We all knew they’d have to take a ‘hair cut’ (reduced pay) and they were willing to do that and take on more work, but what they’ve done is completely butchered the role into pieces,’’ the official said.
The managers also had to reapply for their positions. Respected Stingrays boss Flanigan chose not to.
There is concern within the competition that some of its best performers are walking away from the game disillusioned.
One official connected attached to the NAB League for nine years called it the “NAB brain drain’’, pointing out the region managers did their work with a lot of care and pride and had built good relationships with local clubs.
He said AFL clubs should be concerned about the loss of experience and expertise since they relied so much on the NAB League to bring through players for the draft.
Contacted for comment today, the AFL said that after a review in the past few months, the AFL talent pathway programs had been remodelled to “further align and simplify the talent pathway calendar, to provide boys’ and girls’ programs with the same opportunities for elite development while also increasing their connection to community football’’.
MORE FOOTBALL
JOSH BOUKE TO LEAVE SANDY DRAGONS
DARREN FLANIGAN CALLS IT QUITS
It said the AFL talent committee of Alastair Clarkson, Luke Beveridge, Chris Fagan, Damien Hardwick, Stephen Wells, Jason McCartney and Ned Guy -was involved in developing the revised program.
“All future draftees will be provided with the same level of medical, physical and off-field care as they received in previous years,’’ the AFL said.
“It will look different, but the focus remains on developing clear alignment for talent pathway programs and will provide girls and boys with the best opportunity to develop as footballers and ultimately reach the elite level.
“The AFL are continuing to work through a range of models for the 2021 NAB League season with the number of games played by girls and boys to be consistent with prior years.
National Championships and National Draft Combines will occur and allow national benchmarking.
“The AFL has focused on developing an appropriate balance between providing the right platform for young and developing footballers to improve, while adopting a realistic approach to streamlining football activities across the country.’’
It said NAB League coaches would be full-time positions for the first time and work across the girls and boys programs to ensure the same opportunities for both genders.