Mark Bickley not asked to be part of interview field to coach Adelaide Crows in 2015
PREMIERSHIP captain Mark Bickley is not in Adelaide’s interview field to find the Crows’ replacement for Brenton Sanderson.
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PREMIERSHIP captain Mark Bickley is not in Adelaide’s interview field to find the Crows’ replacement for Brenton Sanderson.
Bickley, who served as interim coach after Neil Craig’s dismissal in 2011, was told by Adelaide football chief David Noble he would not be asked to present to the Crows coaching search party.
This is in line with the Adelaide board seeking a new direction — and Bickley, apparently, not offering a new image for the Crows.
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Bickley’s tenure at West Lakes — where he has been an assistant coach to Craig and Sanderson since 2009 — is underwritten by a contract for next season. After making a near $1 million payout of Sanderson’s contract for 2015-16, it is unlikely Adelaide will burn another contract.
Bickley was assured after the Sanderson sacking that his contract would be honoured. This commitment will be tested in the next fortnight when the new senior coach surveys his resources at West Lakes.
Adelaide’s interviews for its seventh full-time coach will deepen in the next week as the Crows gain access to the assistant coaches at grand final opponents, Sydney and Hawthorn.
Essendon assistant coach and Norwood premiership coach Nathan Bassett already has presented to the Adelaide panel that is made up of Noble, board members Mark Ricciuto and Andrew Payze, new chief executive Andrew Fagan and development manager Alan Stewart who is the “senior adviser” to the search party.
An appointment is expected in the next 10 days — and is more likely to be a first-time coach rather than a previously tried coach such as Michael Voss or Brett Ratten.
Adelaide’s four-man shortlist seems certain to have Bassett, Sydney assistant Stuart Dew and Hawthorn assistant Brendon Bolton.
The impending choice may be between Bassett in a return to Adelaide where he was a 210-game defender and Dew whose playing record includes AFL premierships at Port Adelaide and Hawthorn.
Bassett holds the advantage of having managed his own group at Norwood — and has a Crows background. His presentation to the Adelaide hierarchy this week was more than sound to highlight his readiness for AFL coaching.
Dew meets the Crows’ wish for a new direction and has experiences — as a player and assistant coach — at two of the most successful football programs of the past decade at Hawthorn and the Swans. In question is whether his Power playing record works against him at a club making a heavy issue of “branding”.
Adelaide’s search for a stronger football department — not just a new senior coach — continues but the Crows are dismissing reports it has Sydney premiership player Ryan O’Keefe signed to a contract to be an assistant coach at West Lakes for the next three seasons.
Sanderson’s coaching panel was Bickley, the out-of-contract Scott Camporeale, Geelong premiership defender Darren Milburn and Matthew Clarke.
A shake-up is inevitable with the appointment of a new coach.
Originally published as Mark Bickley not asked to be part of interview field to coach Adelaide Crows in 2015
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