Ross Lyon shocked the AFL world as Herald Sun rates biggest coach departures of 21st century

HERALD Sun reporters Jon Ralph and Glenn McFarlane have worked through every jaw-dropping moment of the past 17 seasons. Today, they look at the coaching departures that rocked footy.

IT’S the ultimate tribute to 21st century footy.

Herald Sun football reporters Jon Ralph and Glenn McFarlane have worked through every jaw-dropping, fist-pumping moment of the past 17 seasons — from 2001 to 2017.

21ST CENTURY FOOTY: 17 BEST INDIVIDUAL GAMES

21ST CENTURY FOOTY: BEST COACHES THIS CENTURY

They have come up with the definitive list of the 21st century so far ... the good, the bad, and the exceedingly ugly.

Today, they look at the coaching departures that rocked — and sometimes shocked — the footy world.

Stay tuned throughout the week as Ralphy and Macca rate the biggest villains, cult figures, scandals and more — including their ultimate starting 22.

THE BIGGEST COACHING DEPARTURES, 2001-2017

Ross Lyon replaced Mark Harvey in September of 2011, and his opening press conference included some terse exchanges.

1. ROSS LYON — 2011

No one — not the St Kilda hierarchy, not the players who adored him, not even his own management company — had any idea that Saints coach Ross Lyon and Fremantle had been working clandestinely on the biggest coaching shock of the 21st century so far. It wasn’t until Mark Harvey was stunningly sacked by the Dockers that people began to join the dots. For a time, Lyon went missing and no one could contact him. When it became clear he had dumped the Saints for a four-year deal with the Dockers, it changed relationships forever and some of the aftershocks remain.

Malcolm Blight’s time at St Kilda was brief.

2. MALCOLM BLIGHT — 2001

How do you go from being offered the first $1 million coaching deal — St Kilda scrawled six noughts on napkin to entice one of the greats of the game out of retirement — to being sensationally sacked only 15 games into the deal? This is another in the “It could only happen to Malcolm Blight” files. He only won three of 15 games as coach of the Saints. Blighty’s last act as Saints’ coach was, appropriately, a bizarre one — giving his players a strange tutorial an hour after the final siren on the Docklands surface, long after most of the crowd had left the venue.

Mick Malthouse with Collingwood president Eddie McGuire and Nathan Buckley at the handover announcement. Pic. Craig Borrow

3. MICK MALTHOUSE — 2011

This was more of a seismic shift two years in the making than an instant shock. The impact was significant nonetheless. Malthouse agreed — he later said reluctantly — to a Collingwood coaching succession plan in 2009 involving Nathan Buckley. He coached the Magpies to the flag in 2010 but tensions boiled over within the club the following year, culminating in a controversial Footy Show interview. The Magpies were runners-up in 2011, and Malthouse confirmed footy’s worst-kept secret after the Grand Final, saying he wasn’t going to be the club’s director of coaching.

Former Essendon coach Kevin Sheedy was effectively sacked.

4. KEVIN SHEEDY — 2007

‘Who shot Bambi’ was the question Essendon chairman Ray Horsburgh was the asked the day after the board voted 8-2 to end Kevin Sheedy’s extraordinary 27-season coaching tenure with the Bombers. Even a decade on, the decision not to renew Sheedy’s contact — effectively sacking him — sits uneasily for those who made the call. Details of the board meeting were embarrassingly leaked to the media, not the way you should treat one of the greatest coaches of all-time.

Mick Malthouse lasted three years at the Blues. Picture: Wayne Ludbey

5. MICK MALTHOUSE — 2015

When Malthouse left Collingwood, he vowed to never coach against “his (Collingwood) boys”. But when Carlton offered him the coaching role in 2013, he jumped at the chance. The Blues made the finals in his first season, thanks to Essendon’s drugs omission, but crashed badly in the next two years. In 2015 he broke Jock McHale’s longstanding coaching games record. Just weeks later, after an explosive “sack me or back me” early morning radio interview, and a standoff he couldn’t win, Malthouse was sacked after an extraordinary day of drama.

6. TERRY WALLACE — 2002

Terry Wallace was still under contract when he shocked the football world in late 2002, announcing he was leaving the Bulldogs. He wasn’t allowed to coach out the last game of the season, and it emerged he had locked in a deal to coach Sydney the following season. As it turned out, people power saved Swans caretaker coach Paul Roos and Wallace missed out, The questions remain. Was there a sizeable Swans payout to Wallace? And would Sydney have still have won that drought-breaking flag in 2005 if Wallace had been in charge.

Brendan McCartney didn’t survive a tumultuous trade period in 2014. Pic: Michael Klein

7. BRENDAN McCARTNEY — 2014

It is easy to forget how tumultuous the situation at the Western Bulldogs was when Brendan McCartney stepped away from the coaching job in October 2014. He had already survived a brutal post-season review. But he couldn’t make it through the chain of events that saw Ryan Griffin quit the club and other senior players raise huge question marks over the coach. No one could have foreseen McCartney’s replacement, Luke Beveridge, would win a flag two years later.

Terry Wallace leaves the ground for the last time as Richmond coach.

8. TERRY WALLACE — 2009

Was he or wasn’t he sacked before he ultimately resigned? Whatever the case, the drama around the Richmond Football Club and Terry Wallace in 2009 made for compelling viewing. There were reports he had been axed before a crisis meeting ended with Wallace clinging to his position. A few weeks later “a mutual agreement” announced Wallace would coach his final game in Round 11 against his old side, the Western Bulldogs, ending a 247-game coaching career.

Damian Drum learned his fate in unusual circumstances.

9. DAMIAN DRUM — 2001

Damian Drum called his sacking from the Fremantle coaching job in 2001 as “reality TV before its time”. It’s hard to argue with him. Drum was on his way into a function when a television reporter confronted him about what he thought about his axing from the Dockers. He didn’t even know it had happened. No one from the club had bothered to tell him he was gone.

Mark ‘Bomber’ Thompson faces the media to announce he was quitting the Cats.

10. MARK THOMPSON — 2010

Geelong coach Mark Thompson spent much of 2010 reminding Gary Ablett he needed to show his loyalty to Geelong. But as Ablett quit to join Gold Coast, the two-time premiership coach announced he too was walking away. ‘Bomber’ walked out on his contract saying he was “tired of coaching ... I don’t want to coach anymore.” The Cats were furious when he was announced soon after as James Hird’s assistant coach at Essendon. Such was their anger that they made an audit of his phone records to find out whether the Bombers started calling him.