Paul Roos hasn’t forgotten comments about Sydney Swans playing style by ex-AFL boss Andrew Demetriou

IT’S been more than a decade since Andrew Demetriou bagged the Sydney Swans’ playing style, but Paul Roos hasn’t forgotten or forgiven the former AFL chief.

Sydney coach Paul Roos and Barry Hall raise the cup in 2005.

IT’S been more than a decade since former AFL boss Andrew Demetriou bagged the Sydney Swans’ playing style, but Paul Roos hasn’t forgotten or forgiven the former AFL chief.

In his new book, Here It Is, which will be published next week, the 2005 premiership-winning coach and former Melbourne mentor says Demetriou shouldn’t have become involved in the issue of playing style.

Roos also linked Demetriou and the AFL to his appointment as Melbourne coach, suggesting a 60 per cent pay cut as the head coach of the Swans Academy had been orchestrated to force him to accept the job offer as Demons coach.

THE PAY CUT

“I was repeatedly asked about the Melbourne job by the media,’’ Roos writes.

“In July, during On The Couch, I had said I wasn’t entertaining the idea, but had told Peter Jackson that, if anything changed, I’d let him know.

“Then suddenly, in August, the landscape did dramatically change. Swans CEO Andrew Ireland said he wanted to see me about my contract at the academy.

“I knew there might be changes afoot and expected Andrew might tell me my next contract would involve a pay cut. I had put a lot of time, effort and passion into the academy, and I was getting well paid.

“I had guessed it might be in the line of a 20 per cent cut, but Andrew said they had to reduce the next contract by 60 per cent. That was a shock.

“It was an uncomfortable meeting, but I could never be critical of the Swans. They had looked after me incredibly well as a player, coach and then at the academy.

“I’ve never closely questioned why that happened. Some people have suggested that the AFL, which had intervened to revamp Melbourne, had a hand in it, but I’m not sure, although a comment from Andrew Demetriou a month or so earlier had pricked my ears.

“‘We don’t recruit players and we don’t recruit coaches, but Paul Roos, as a general comment, is an incredibly gifted and talented coach and as an industry we are the lesser for not having a person of Paul Roos’ talent coaching in the AFL ranks,’ Demetriou had said.”

Former Sydney coach Paul Roos (right) with ex-AFL boss Andrew Demetriou and Swans captain Adam Goodes.

SYDNEY’S STYLE

“Andrew Demetriou was a controversial person who had strong views on many subjects,’’ Roos writes. “In terms of the corporate side, television rights for the AFL, membership and sponsorships, he did a very good job.

“But he was off the mark with those comments. Imagine if the CEO of Coca-Cola said he or she wouldn’t buy Coca-Cola in New South Wales because the Coca-Cola on the other side of the border was terrible. The repercussions of trashing their own brand would be enormous. From a corporate point of view, to have the CEO of the AFL criticise the brand was not smart.

“I’ve often been asked if I was angry about Andrew’s comments. I wasn’t angry, but I definitely found the comments unnecessary.

“What I learnt about Andrew was that he had a very different leadership style to me. Andrew didn’t appear to value creating relationships. As our chairman Richard Colless said at the time, Andrew had not been to a game in Sydney that year, or rung him about anything.

“I’ve since met Andrew Demetriou many times at official functions. People often ask me if the incident had an effect on our relationship. It didn’t, because we never had much to do with each other anyway. I was like many people in the football industry — Andrew was the CEO, and I was the coach of the Sydney Swans, and there wasn’t a lot of meaningful interaction. If I had any disappointment, it was directed at the AFL Commission, which made no public response to his comments.

“My belief was that the Commission had been set up to hold everyone accountable for their actions, and to always put the interests of the game first.”

OTHER COACHING OFFERS

“During the years I’d been out of coaching, half a dozen clubs had approached me, either directly or indirectly,” Roos writes. “Some wanted advice on culture change and transformation, or succession planning, while others were interested in me coaching.

“But, it has to be emphasised, I didn’t get approaches from any club that still had a coach under contract.”

Melbourne coach Paul Roos speaks with Jack Watts.

HOW JACK WATTS ROCKED ROOS

“Jack looked me in the eye and said, ‘Roosy, I just want to be treated like a human being.’

“I was rocked by Jack’s words. In one simple, powerful sentence, he gave me the insight I needed. It was not something I ever thought I’d hear a player say. For whatever reason, the important relationships at Melbourne were in tatters. There needed to be more nurturing and less negativity.

“From my experience at the Swans, I knew how crucial relationships were in football clubs. And they had become increasingly important now players were full-time professionals. If players didn’t feel as if they were valued, listened to and treated with respect, they didn’t want to come to work.”

ROOS’S COACHING PHILOSOPHY

“In November 2016 I received an email from Robert Jackson, who was the strength and conditioning manager at Melbourne while I was coach.

“Rob explained he’d often been asked the difference between each of the coaches and had always answered they were mostly cut from the same cloth, with their own quirks.

“The coaching mantra in most clubs, and one that he lived by, was basically, ‘It’s not about being liked, it’s about being respected’.

“He had always been the ‘tough guy’ trainer who demanded perfection, penalised players for being late or not hitting gym targets, and he didn’t hesitate to yell when he felt frustrated.

“I understood what Rob was saying. I had grown up playing under some great coaches, but many had a similar approach. They didn’t have time to get to know you, and often it was motivation by fear. But Rob said that when I came to Melbourne the dynamic changed, and he’d changed too.”

Paul Roos and Barry Hall lift the cup after the 2005 Grand Final.

BARRY HALL’S KING HIT

“Barry’s behaviour in 2008 and 2009 was the most difficult problem I had to deal with during my time as coach of the Swans. In a bygone era, when fists were more acceptable on the football field, it might not have mattered so much. But times had changed. These were the rules the players had set for themselves at the Swans and his repeated flouting was not acceptable.

“It was especially hard to manage because Barry Hall was a good person.

“Fundamentally, I’ve always found players want direction, they want discipline, want to know what the parameters are. Barry had come to the Swans in 2002 with a reputation after numerous tribunal suspensions. But for six years we had no problems.

“We loved Barry as a teammate and as a person. He was easy to get on with and had developed into a great leader who cared for his mates. He had helped create our Bloods system and he was a giver.

“His nickname outside the club was still ‘Big, Bad, Bustling’ but he had always hated that nickname. Leo Barry said that Hally was really a teddy bear and a sensitive new age guy.”

HERE IT IS: COACHING, LEADERSHIP AND LIFE

By Paul Roos, Penguin Random House, published August 28, 2017. RRP $32.99.

Originally published as Paul Roos hasn’t forgotten comments about Sydney Swans playing style by ex-AFL boss Andrew Demetriou