Mark Brayshaw quits his role with the AFLCA to work in the medicinal cannabis field
Departing AFL Coaches Association boss Mark Brayshaw reflects on his toughest days in the job and predicts his successor’s biggest challenge.
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Departing AFL Coaches Association chief executive Mark Brayshaw has warned the stress and pressure levels on the league’s senior coaches are at an “all-time high”.
As he prepares to farewell the role he has held for the past six years, Brayshaw predicted that
the “balance and wellbeing” of coaches remained the biggest issue facing the men in the hot seats.
Brayshaw’s comments come after a year when North Melbourne coach Rhyce Shaw parted ways with the club for personal reasons and the personal lives of several senior coaches were thrust into the spotlight.
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Tigers leader Damien Hardwick, Collingwood’s Nathan Buckley and Melbourne coach Simon Goodwin were all reported to have had marriage breakups.
Four-time premiership coach Alastair Clarkson said last year he was “a bit concerned for our profession” due to the stress of the job in the AFL “fishbowl”.
Brayshaw said the pressure on the senior coaches now was “not healthy”.
“I think the stress levels and the pressure levels on the senior (coaches) – the first 18 I call it – are at all time highs,” Brayshaw said.
“I don’t think that is always healthy. It is a tough job, they all know that when they come in.
“But across the balance of coaches, even in COVID, we surveyed 120-odd members last year and generally speaking they were in a good place and job satisfaction is off the charts … there is no question the coaches still enjoy doing it.
“It’s a highly regarded job and very rewarding but the stress levels last year – and I suspect this year again with the impact of COVID – are enormous.”
‘The hardest year ever’
Brayshaw described the end of Shaw’s short tenure as senior coach at the Kangaroos as a “very sad circumstance” but said it was great news he was “back on his feet” in another role.
Shaw has made the move to Queensland with his family to take on the position as the Gold Coast Suns new head of development.
“Rhyce was a very sad circumstance but the feedback I got across the board was that – even from the most experienced coaches suggested – this was the hardest year they had ever had,” Brayshaw said.
“So it particularly must have been very difficult for the first-time coaches and Rhyce and Matty Nicks lost lots of games in a row and that’s just a really tough place to be.
“But the feedback from even the veterans was that last year was tough.”.
Brayshaw said the AFLCA had worked behind the scenes with Shaw and his management and was relieved he had not been lost to the game.
“The fact that he’s back on his feet and he and his family are going to go up there is a really great result because he is a first-class bloke and a very good young coach,” Brayshaw said.
“We’re all very pleased that he can take that job because he shouldn’t be lost to the game.”
The toughest days in the job
Brayshaw this week announced he was departing the AFLCA to take up the CEO role at a medicinal cannabis start-up.
For a man who helped shine a light on the concerns facing senior and assistant coaches, he remembered the deaths of former Adelaide coach Phil Walsh and his predecessor at the AFLCA, former Richmond coach and St Kilda legend Danny Frawley, as the most “devastating” moments in his six years at the helm.
“The two worst days I had was when I woke up to hear Phil Walsh had been killed and that Spud had died,” Brayshaw said.
“Both of them were former work colleagues of mine … Danny and I were particularly close at Richmond and those two days were devastating.
“But the thing that I am going to miss is the wonderful sense of community that AFL footy has. I remember the way the industry rallied around Walshy and his family and the circle that Clarko did with Nathan Buckley after the Friday night game and we have an annual Phil Walsh memorial scholarship now and the response and the outpouring of grieving when ‘Spud’ passed was the same.
“That’s something the game should be very proud of.”
Brayshaw said Frawley left a legacy not only highlighting the issue of mental health, but also “shining a light on concussion”.
“He had the CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy) symptoms after he had the autopsy and it’s very obvious – well it was medically proven – that his brain was impacted by his footy career. I think that’s a work in progress as well.”
The financial fallout of COVID
The ongoing financial fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic led to a dramatic cut in football department spending with many assistant coaches losing jobs last year.
Like many other industries hit hard by the pandemic, Brayshaw said it was a “bloody difficult” time, but was proud of the help the AFLCA was able to provide those out-of-work coaches.
Brayshaw said of the 60 members who had lost work during the pandemic last year, about 55 of them had now found new employment.
“By and large they accepted the industry was being challenged and people in accounting and marketing and admin and at the AFL – there were headcount reductions everywhere – and it wasn’t though the coaches were particularly singled out, but it was bloody difficult,” Brayshaw said.
“There were some really, really difficult circumstances the coaches found themselves in and that’s why being able to help to get to the stage where we are now with 55 out of 60 of them, roughly, employed it’s very gratifying.
“Everybody was very concerned at the fallout and the job market and how transferable the skills were. So to be able to help – in some cases significant help – and oversee and have some involvement in that was really important.”
But Brayshaw said there was a flow-on effect for the coaches that held their jobs, which would continue.
“For those coaches that stayed, the workload went up by 30 per cent to off-set the reduction,” Brayshaw said.
“That was really hard and for many people in the hub it was a challenge.
“But the industry has survived and we are moving forward. I feel optimistic that everything in the near term will be manageable but it’s going to be a challenge this year, too, I suspect.
“I think everyone is half-expecting a hub again, certainly for the beginning of (the) year and it would be good news if that isn’t the case, but they’ll be much wiser for last year’s experience.”
Embracing mental wellbeing
Brayshaw said finding balance and wellbeing remained the most significant issues for the AFL’s senior coaches, particularly with increased workloads brought on by staff reductions.
“The challenge is that it is an intoxicating environment so they can’t help themselves … you can find yourself working long hours before you know it,” Brayshaw said.
“The fact that the headcount reduction has taken place – and is likely to be in place for the foreseeable future – is going to give rise to a bigger workload.
“I think the biggest challenge is to rather than just pay lip service to their own wellness and wellbeing, to actually get serious about it, recognise that they are also fathers and husbands and partners and they have got to look after themselves.
“It’s going to be a particular challenge this year and the next year or two as the industry takes it time to recover from the COVID fallout because they are very passionate people and their first and second priorities are always to the players and the club and themselves last.
“They’ve got to have a correction to achieve a better balance.”
But Brayshaw did not draw a correlation between the pressures of the job and the recent marriage breakdown of three senior coaches.
“I think that is societal … by community standards, I think they are characterised by very stable marriages so I don’t draw the connection between the two,” he said.
“I just think that is true of life.”
Outgoing coaches boss slams ‘disgraceful’ AFL rule
— Chris Vernuccio, Rebecca Williams
Outgoing AFL Coaches’ Association chief executive Mark Brayshaw has taken a swing at “stupid, moron boards” who sack coaches not long after signing them to long-term deals.
Brayshaw, who announced he was leaving the role to work in the medicinal cannabis field, slammed the “disgraceful clause” which placed a maximum six-month payout on any new coaching deal at an AFL-funded club regardless of the length of their contract.
The rule was brought in by the AFL in late 2019 to avoid million-dollar payouts to sacked senior coaches.
But Brayshaw said the change served to bail out irresponsible boards who sign their coaches to long-term contracts before they changed their minds.
“I’ll tell you how (the clause) gets through, the AFL says ‘we’re sick of stupid boards, moron boards, sacking their coaches and paying them out’,” Brayshaw told SEN SA Breakfast.
“I used to be on the board at North Melbourne for eight years and have no sympathy whatsoever for any board that extends a contract with its coach and then changes its mind and expects to give them a six-month contract.
“The good clubs don’t do that. The big clubs that don’t need the AFL’s money quite as much don’t allow that to happen and I think it’s shameful and I’ll tell you why. Footy clubs, the good ones, have got trust. They’re built on trust.
“And you say to your coach ‘the good news is we’re going to sign you for three years, but by the way in the fine print if we change our mind we can give you the flick after a six-month notice period.
“That is not trust and I think it is a disgrace and it’s the AFL supporting incompetent boards who recklessly sign or extend their coaches and I have no sympathy for it.”
Brayshaw has been at the helm of the AFLCA for the past six years but is stepping away from the AFL industry after being appointed chief executive of a new medical cannabis start-up company.
The AFLCA said it would engage with its members over the next two weeks before inviting expressions of interest for the CEO’s role.
Brayshaw said it was time for a new challenge outside the industry.
“I have loved this job. The coaches have inspired me with their work ethic, empathy and candour,” Brayshaw said.
“I’m lost in admiration for the role they play in our game and have been very grateful for the support I’ve received from them and this wonderful industry.
“After six years at the AFLCA, and a long time in AFL administration, it’s time for a new challenge outside of the AFL.
“I’m very excited at the challenges presented with joining a new industry.”
AFLCA chairman Greg Nichols thanked Brayshaw for his service.
“Mark has led the Coaches Association for the past six years through a sustained period of growth and change,” he said.
“Under Mark’s leadership, we are held in high regard within the AFL family.
“The Association has been particularly important assisting coaches cope with the COVID-19 fallout.
“On behalf of the members, we thank Mark and wish him well for the next phase of his career.”
Nichols said the AFLCA board would be looking for a new CEO “with a deep understanding of the AFL industry” and expected “significant interest” in the position.
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