Key Adelaide Crows players lost faith in coach Brenton Sanderson and he paid the price
BRENTON Sanderson pays the price for losing the faith of key players as Adelaide starts a nationwide search for its seventh coach..
Crows
Don't miss out on the headlines from Crows. Followed categories will be added to My News.
BRENTON Sanderson has paid the price for losing the faith of key Crows players as the Adelaide Football Club began a nationwide search for its seventh AFL coach.
Despite having the best winning rate — 39 wins from 69 games, a 57 per cent success rate in three seasons — Sanderson on Wednesday was told the two-year, $1.2 million contract extension he was handed in December would not be honoured.
Sanderson, 40, and Crows chairman Rob Chapman on Thursday will have a joint press conference at West Lakes to explain a sacking that on Wednesday night was presented by the club as an agreement “to part ways”.
What a total dog act by the adelaide football club. So incompetently handled too. An embarrassment
— David Penberthy (@penbo) September 17, 2014
Despite his contract, Sanderson was at risk after not following up his bright start in 2012 — when Adelaide played in the preliminary finals — with repeat finals appearances.
The Crows have missed the major round in the past two years when Sanderson has delivered 11th and 10th rankings with a playing group considered sound enough to play finals.
A day after declaring “mediocrity was unacceptable” at the Adelaide Football Club — which is without an AFL premiership or grand final appearance since 1998 — Crows chairman Rob Chapman told Sanderson the club needed a new direction.
This followed a review of the Crows football program — by Chapman, fellow board members Andrew Payze and Mark Ricciuto and football chief David Noble.
A strong point of influence in this review was the feedback of senior players.
In the club’s only official statement last night, Chapman said: “Brenton is a quality person and accomplished coach, but recent weeks have unearthed a need for change.
“Both parties have realised they have different perspectives on where we are at as a footy team.
“It is a tough decision, but one the club feels pushes us closer to realising our ambitions.
“We would like to thank Brenton for his contribution and wish him every success.”
Sanderson, a former player at Adelaide, made no statement on Wednesday.
His future in AFL football could continue at Collingwood as an assistant coach working for his best friend, Nathan Buckley.
The field of contenders for Adelaide’s seventh coach since its start-up season in 1991 is already vast and varied — former Crows captain Simion Goodwin, Port Adelaide and Hawthorn premiership player Stuart Dew who is an assistant coach at Sydney, former Brisbane coach Michael Voss, Geelong premiership coach and current Essendon stand-in mentor Mark Thompson and Collingwood assistant coach Scott Burns, who missed the job in 2012.
Sanderson’s sacking still startled his coaching staff, particularly after the assistant coaches met Sanderson at the club’s West Lakes base on Wednesday to plan the Crows’ pre-season campaign that begins in November.
The dismissal — and how it was presented with no statement from the club until 6.17pm after three hours of media speculation — drew heated reaction from some of Adelaide’s high-profile supporters.
Club ambassador and FIVEaa breakfast radio host David Penberthy took to Twitter to savage the board saying: “What a total dog act by the adelaide football club. So incompetently handled too. An embarrassment.”
Sanderson’s last public presentation as Crows coach was on Friday, September 5, at the Adelaide Football Club’s awards night.
His review of the season was critiqued as lacking an inspiring vision for next season. His explanation of Adelaide’s failure to reach finals for the second consecutive year was loaded with statistics that were taken as excuses, particularly by Ricciuto who joined the board in July.
Sanderson’s coaching performances this season drew much criticism, particularly on match day when he failed to react to damaging match-ups.
But his results — 11 wins and 11 losses — this season reflected inconsistency and mediocrity the Crows board could not tolerate.
Adelaide’s results this season were often described as a “roller-coaster ride”.
After losing the first three games of the home-and-away series, the Crows balanced their account at 3-3.
But the only time Adelaide managed consecutive wins in the last 16 weeks of the qualifying season was in rounds 15 and 16 against Port Adelaide and Greater Western Sydney.
This inconsistency prompted Ricciuto, in his breakfast radio role on Triple M, to question Sanderson by saying: “There is something wrong at Adelaide, either with the coach’s ability to get themselves in the right mindset.”
Ricciuto’s five-point public review of Sanderson’s program left the impression he was not convinced of the coach’s ability to deliver a winning team. His stance in the club’s official review is considered the most significant in the sacking.
BRENTON SANDERSON
Born: February 27, 1974
Playing career: 1992-2005
209 games (Adelaide 6; Collingwood 4; Geelong 199)
AFL senior coaching career: 2012-2014
69 games, 39 wins, 30 losses
Crows’ finishing position under Sanderson
2012 — 3rd
2013 — 11th
2014 — 10th
Major coaching achievement:
2012 NAB Cup
Young star’s huge show of faith in the Crows
After what he showed late this season, many think Riley Thilthorpe will explode in 2025 – and the young Crow will remain at West Lakes a lot longer than that.
Finals, finally? The key to Crows’ September return in ‘25
Adelaide talked the talk last summer – but failed to walk the walk when it mattered. Will the next six months be different? For Matthew Nicks’ future, it has to be, writes SIMEON THOMAS-WILSON.