AFL 2022: Mark McVeigh’s hostile post-match comments win support from hierarchy at Giants
Interim Giants coach Mark McVeigh’s damning assessment of the playing group after being accused of ‘checking out’ against the Sydney Swans has been backed to the hilt.
AFL
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Greater Western Sydney coaching director Jimmy Bartel has backed Mark McVeigh’s withering assessment of the playing group, saying rival sides worked out the club’s game-plan early this season.
It comes as football boss Jason McCartney made clear on Sunday McVeigh had the club’s full support but admitted the coaching search could have been a distraction for players.
Bartel and the GWS hierarchy are attempting to woo coaches including Alastair Clarkson but the Giants dismal performance against Sydney wouldn’t have made it easier.
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Interim coach McVeigh said the players had checked out, had embarrassed the club and made clear a leadership group overhaul was needed.
McCartney told the Herald Sun on Sunday the Giants were determined to finish the season taking something out of the last few weeks of the year.
“That is the great thing about ‘Spike’, he is heart and soul and he’s desperate as we all are to fight to the end. He was disappointed yesterday. There wasn’t the effort and intent across the board. It’s unfamiliar territory for the group and maybe the coaching piece plays a part, but we aren’t happy with how we are going,” McCartney said.
“It was about the collective efforts of the group and we want to finish off the season strongly and we had good chats with the players about that. We haven’t had a performance like that since I don’t know when. It was uncharacteristic and we can do something about it.“
Bartel laughed off speculation the Giants could consider another caretaker coach for the last three weeks of the year, telling 3AW McVeigh had his full support.
“He couldn’t have said it better. He is a guy who is passionate about his job and trying to make the team as good as he can in an interim role and I felt for the guy,” he said.
“We never got going (this year). Injury, form and confidence rolled into one. The brand of footy they started off the year with, sides have worked it out pretty quickly
“(It is) a strong stoppage game and in today’s footy if you don’t play the front-half turnover game you just invite the pressure.
“When they put in performances like that, I couldn’t agree with Mark any more. The numbers say that, their performance said that. He was spot on in his press conference.”
Operation Get Clarko: The current state of play is revealed
Who is the leading the race to sign on Alastair Clarkson and what happens if he doesn’t sign on the dotted line? Every pathway examined.
THE RACE FOR CLARKO
NORTH MELBOURNE
North Melbourne pitched its services to Clarkson’s manager James Henderson this week through president Sonya Hood and was to meet with Clarkson in person as well as it negotiates exclusively with the four-time premiership star.
It believes it has an elite core of young players who could one day fill spots in a premiership line-up, and would clearly offer him a long-term deal of five or six seasons if he so desired.
But discussion of a $1.6 million contract offer has been labelled wrong and insulting.
Clarkson says he would only return to football to win a premiership and to be honest that would be a five to seven year rebuild at the Roos.
He would also be concerned about stability at board level and the club’s resources to pay for an elite coaching staff and the extras in the football department — and across the club — that powered the Hawks to so many flags.
GREATER WESTERN SYDNEY
Greater Western Sydney has met with Clarkson three times, which indicates the level of interest from both sides, with CEO David Matthews and football director Jimmy Bartel leading the charge this week.
GWS has made clear he would need to do the kind of heavy lifting to grow the code — and Giants brand — in the state, and it is not known how prepared he is to accept that workload.
But the Giants believe they can bounce quickly in an even competition and immediately become a premiership contender again.
With significant salary cap pressure the question is whether Clarkson believes the list is about too lose too many talented players, with Tim Taranto, Bobby Hill, Tanner Bruhn and Jacob Hopper likely on the move.
But who wouldn’t want to coach Toby Greene, Lachie Whitfield, Sam Taylor, Nick Haynes, Josh Kelly and Stephen Coniglio?
The question is whether Clarkson believes there is enough middle-tier depth to challenge.
OTHER CANDIDATES
North Melbourne would only turn to other candidates if Clarkson rebuffed them.
Ross Lyon would clearly fit the Roos’ need for hard-line standards perfectly but might be less inclined to go through an exhaustive coaching selection process.
Melbourne’s Adem Yze and Richmond’s Adam Kingsley are considered the two leading Victorian contenders for GWS if Clarkson takes the Roos job.
Incumbent Mark McVeigh will also be involved in the process but given GWS has lost five of its last six games he is less likely to secure the role.
Nathan Buckley says he won’t coach this year and maybe won’t again.
COULD CLARKO NOT COACH IN 2023?
Clarkson is such a competitor that he is desperate to coach again in 2023.
But GWS has salary cap issues and the Roos are a million miles from competitive at a club that has natural disadvantages given its size and brand, with many players simply refusing to consider Roos offers in recent years in another example of the club’s difficulties.
If he spent another 12 months out of the game — and let’s face it he doesn’t need the money — there will be more jobs on offer.
Ken Hinkley will be out of contract, Ben Rutten might or might not have proved his worth, Damien Hardwick might decide his time is up at Richmond.
The Tasmanian team might even be closer to starting — depending upon an August vote — so if Clarkson truly only wants to coach again for a flag there might be better options in 12 months time.
Giants steal march on Roos as Clarko pitches ramp up
— Glenn McFarlane
The courting of Alastair Clarkson is gathering strong momentum with North Melbourne and Greater Western Sydney stepping up discussions in pursuit of the four-time premiership coach.
While Kangaroos president Dr Sonja Hood spoke to Clarkson’s manager James Henderson in Hobart last weekend, the Giants met face-to-face with the master coach on Wednesday afternoon.
Giants chief executive Dave Matthews and football director Jimmy Bartel caught up with Clarkson – who recently returned from an overseas trip that included the British Open – for an hour-long meeting in Albert Park.
It is understood to be the third time a representative from the Giants has spoken to Clarkson about his future coaching plans.
Matthews told the Herald Sun on Wednesday night the meeting had been productive, but reaffirmed the club intended to go through a process to select their coach.
“We enjoyed a very good discussion today which is one of a number we’ve been having as part of a comprehensive process,” Matthews said.
“We said from the outset we’d be engaging a number of very high quality candidates and we’re looking forward to those discussions continuing as the process concludes.”
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It is understood the Giants have also spoken to other potential coaching candidates including highly-rated assistant coaches Adem Yze and Adam Kingsley, while caretaker coach Mark McVeigh is also keen to pitch for the role.
Clarkson is expected to meet with North Melbourne within the next week following Dr Hood’s chat with Henderson last weekend.
That conversation is believed to have lasted about 10 minutes.
Henderson attended the North Melbourne-Hawthorn game in Hobart last weekend alongside former Australian Test captain and influential Kangaroos supporter Ricky Ponting.
The Kangaroos are yet to reveal a coaching selection panel in the hunt for a long-term replacement for David Noble.
Ponting, who is also managed by Henderson, said in a recent podcast he planned to meet with Clarkson in an effort to convince him of the benefits of becoming North Melbourne’s next coach.
Ponting said on the The Believers: Tasmania’s AFL Journey’ podcast it would be “a perfect fit” for Clarkson – a former North Melbourne player – to lead the Kangaroos’ fightback.
“Yeah, absolutely,” Ponting said. “If you’re looking for the right people at the right times, the most successful coach and noted (by) most as (the) best coach in the AFL for the last 10 or 12 years, there’s a lot worse decisions you could make than to go flat out to try and bring someone like him back to where it all began.”
“That’s the other part of that puzzle with him, obviously. There as a player then went to Melbourne (and) I think started his coaching career near Port Adelaide. I guess if you think about where the footy club is now, it‘s actually not dissimilar to where Hawthorn were when he first started there.
“I mean they – I think he’s on record as saying that he thought it would be a seven-year journey and rebuild to a potential Grand Final. I think they won one after four (years) maybe.”
Ponting said the fans would dearly love to see Clarkson back at the same club where he played 93 games at the start of his VFL-AFL career in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s.
“It would just brighten every member’s hopes up on where we’re heading as a footy club,” he said.
“And it’ll also send just a lot of great signals to everyone else in the AFL that they are, you know, they’re not going to keep accepting what’s happened the last couple of years.
“They’re fair dinkum, they’re trying to bring the best people they possibly can and get this rebuild happening as quick as they can, so a lot of great messages would come as a result of it I think.”
Roos great warns against Clarkson ‘messiah’ complex
—Jon Ralph
Dual premiership North Melbourne ruckman Corey McKernan says Alastair Clarkson is a perfect fit on every level for the Roos as their chase for the premiership legend hots up.
But McKernan warned the four-time premiership coach could not bring a messiah complex and would need an elite team around him.
The Roos on Sunday night refused to comment on the progress of those weekend discussions and are yet to reveal the formation of the coaching subcommittee, which is expected to include key football identities from inside and outside the club.
The Kangaroos are keen for Clarkson to coach the club, with the former Hawks coach also having had some preliminary contact with the Giants.
It would take a dramatic momentum shift for Port Adelaide to move away from Ken Hinkley, which means the chase for Clarkson is likely a race in two.
Clarkson described reports of him wanting a $1.6 million wage on Friday as “bullshit”, with the senior coach understanding he will need to be responsible with his demands to secure a quality team of assistants.
McKernan told the Herald Sun on Sunday that Clarkson, who played 93 games for the Roos, would meet every need for the club in terms of player retention, sponsorship, brand awareness and on-field success.
“To have someone who has got footy experience like Clarkson ticks all the boxes,” he said.
“He would be good for membership and sponsors, great to get players to your club and stay at your club.
“You just need to make sure you have enough support around him. He can’t be the single-handed Messiah who solves all our problems. You have to spread the load.
“You want someone who has vast experience but even Clarko would agree he would want really good assistants.
“Look at who he has had over the years – Adam Simpson, Damien Hardwick, Leon Cameron. Leon would be a perfect assistant. His football CV is amazing for the footy club, but if Clarko can get that support around him and develop that talent over three to five years it’s amazing how quickly you can turn it around.”
McKernan said the Roos had too often thrown massive cash at players who did not want to move to Arden St, but believes players and coaches would come to the club to be with Clarkson.
“The huge upside of getting a good coach is that all of a sudden people want to come to the organisation. Assistant coaches might come and take a little less to say they worked under Alastair Clarkson. From a players’ perspective, the ability to attract players and keep them goes through the roof. There are so many flow-on effects. The only concern is to make sure you go and get support around him.”
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