External pressure can wreck a club if it penetrates the inner-sanctum, writes Mick Malthouse
SO we’re down to the top six and yet the headlines this week have been dominated by a board challenge at Richmond and the fragility of Damien Hardwick’s job.
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SO we’re down to the top six and yet the headlines this week have been dominated by a board challenge at Richmond and the fragility of Damien Hardwick’s job.
Let’s face it — any coach not winning premierships faces the threat of losing his job.
Tellingly though, Hardwick appeared upbeat after the Tigers’ 113-point loss to the Swans in Round 23, which to me is the sign of a coach who feels secure. The Richmond board has backed him repeatedly this year and even the rival ticket has announced it would retain him.
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It’s only when a new board comes in and wants to appoint its own man that things can get messy.
As a coach you always sense it. You are the ticker of the club, the face and the mouthpiece. The emotional roller coaster you ride is largely due to the people around you. When there are whispers in corners and disappearing acts by club officials, the club as a whole is in trouble. And most probably the coach is, too.
We’ve already lost one from the ranks this season, Justin Leppitsch, and I believe he would have known it was coming when he walked into the rooms after the Brisbane Lions’ loss to St Kilda in the final round. Not that it makes it any easier.
He would have noticed a lack of presence by the board and felt the distance.
He may have seen staff members with their heads down, looking for all the world as if they were weighed down by uncertainty.
A coach is judged by his win/loss record. It’s a harsh reality.
But at the end of the season if there have been more losses than wins or a finals no-show, there can still be a story of hope.
Alan Richardson and (now) Simon Goodwin would be eager to build on an improved season by St Kilda and Melbourne.
The presidents and CEOs of each of these clubs will be visible and supportive, the staff heads up and gung ho, and the players will soak up the atmosphere as motivation to keep moving forward.
Coaches coach to win by getting the best from the list in front of them. Players play to win by getting the best from themselves. So even after a less than successful season — dropping out of the eight as Richmond did this year — there is always next year.
Unless something derails the club.
Internally, at least, everyone at Tigerland looks to be on the same page. But externally the pressure has been building for some time. By external I mean supporters, sponsors and the media. This will perhaps be Hardwick’s greatest challenge.
It will be, too, for Ken Hinkley, with Port Adelaide’s failure again to build on a wonderful 2014 campaign. And Nathan Buckley, when, after a good pre-season, the young and exciting Magpies didn’t live up to expectations. Also Rodney Eade, after taking over from Guy McKenna at Gold Coast, and finishing the year just one ladder position ahead of 2015 and with a mass player exodus on the cards.
I won’t include Ross Lyon because despite Fremantle’s dramatic fall from grace, with an ageing list and early injuries to key players, I always thought this would be a tough year for them. It’s a rebuild now for Lyon.
A coach can redirect the team’s focus and minimise distraction by zoning in on the process rather than the result, and when the siren sounds to begin the match, as if by magic, it is remarkable how the only thought in his mind is that of winning the game. In fact it’s almost relief to not have to think about anything else.
Only three times in my career can I say I’ve coached without 100 per cent focus (not that I realised it at the time), and that was for the two games straight after each of my parents died, and once when my youngest child was in hospital seriously ill.
I coached through many upheavals by finding a circuit breaker to deal with the stress of football. I had an outlet with my family, I enjoyed watching other sports, I still like to check in on the Al Jazeera and CNN networks, and I like to walk, a lot.
Anything that took my mind off football and reminded me that there were other things going on in the world was good to break a one-tracked thought and refresh my mind.
What did make me ache inside however — and I can imagine it may also have done for Hardwick, Hinkley, Buckley and Eade this year — is the effect the stress had on my family.
People with an agenda tend to forget that coaches are men, which means they are husbands and fathers, and what is said about them affects those they are closest to.
It is external pressure that can kill a club if it is allowed to penetrate the inner sanctum.
When there is constant media speculation surrounding the coach and supporters begin venting their anger, make no mistake it affects the entire club.
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Players get tired of deflecting questions and accusations. They lose confidence and motivation when negativity seeps into the club environment. It is detrimental to the staff, some of them volunteers, who may start to feel shaky in their own positions and become transmitters of doubt.
This is when a united club will survive and possibly thrive. A strong administration and board can ride out any wave of angst to the benefit of the entire club, including the coach.
Richmond’s foundation is currently being tested with the drama of a board challenge. But make it through this and Hardwick will have a whole pre-season to recruit wisely, reinvigorate his players, the team structure and game plan, and launch into season 2017 as a genuine contender once again.
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