The Assistant Files: Sam Landsberger looks at the AFL senior coaches in waiting – and the ones that got away

Who’s ready to be a senior coach? Why have others walked away? How much do assistants get paid? What makes a good one? SAM LANDSBERGER searches far and wide to deliver all the answers.

Mark “Bomber” Thompson says Joel Corey is the most underrated champion he coached.

These days, the 42-year-old might be football’s most underrated assistant coach.

Corey was a socks-down, scraggly-looking defensive midfielder who could do everything well … but not quite as well as the likes of Gary Ablett Jr, Jimmy Bartel and Joel Selwood.

Corey played 276 games, won three premierships, two best-and-fairests and two All-Australian blazers while the spotlight often shone brighter on them.

Long-time Cats assistant Brendan McCartney, who was coaching Western Bulldogs when Corey quietly retired in 2013, lured him to Whitten Oval as a development coach.

The Bulldogs then drafted a similar-sized midfielder called Marcus Bontempelli at pick No.4, and 11 years on Corey remains the best assistant coach “The Bont” has ever had.

“He’s one person that maybe doesn’t spring to mind when you talk about assistant coaches, because he doesn’t have a huge public presence or profile, but behind the quiet persona is a footy genius,” Bontempelli told this masthead.

“He’s someone with an incredible mind and understanding of the game. He was able to basically break things down and unpack them very early in my career so I could build my own career.

“He was always part of my warm-up, so I’ve had to continue to evolve it without him.

“But it’s all been really set off the back of his expertise and willingness to help grow me as a player.”

Joel Corey is now an assistant coach at the Dockers. Picture: Fremantle FC

Bontempelli was not the only Bulldog who cherished Corey.

“He had the ability to teach you what to look for in different moments and the time and effort he put into me pushed me hard to get the most out of myself,” former Dog Josh Dunkley said.

Another gushed: “Every time someone asks me who do you credit for your career I say Joel Corey”.

Why?

“When you’ve got to do edits with a coach on a Monday or Tuesday it can be quite daunting having to watch your vision and go through your negatives,” he said.

“But I always looked forward to sitting down with Joel. He made you feel like you were a good player and he had so much confidence in me, which you don’t always get from coaches.

“He was always taking a keen interest in my life outside of football, which I thought was really important.

“It made me look forward to hanging out with him.”

Corey was named an assistant for the State-of-Origin bushfire relief game in 2020, along with future senior coaches Adam Kingsley, Stuart Dew, Michael Voss and Mark McVeigh (caretaker).

Then, Corey lost his job. He was made one of football’s many agonising Covid casualties.

“We all were surprised he and (fellow midfield coach) Jordan Russell were let go, and then when Ash Hansen left as well (for Carlton in 2022) it was another big loss,” one Bulldog said.

“You don’t realise how big of a loss they are until they go. Those people are definitely hard to replace.”

Corey playing for Geelong in 2013. Picture: Joe Castro

OVERWORKED AND UNDERPAID?

One veteran senior coach said there were Joel Coreys – hardworking, unheralded assistants – at every club.

But not as many as there used to be.

“They’re underpaid,” he said.

“Coaching hasn’t gone back to pre-Covid and you just don’t want to lose good people to the game.

“People who go, ‘Can I spend more time with my family and earn the same amount of money doing something else?’

“I’ve seen that in the last few years because of those very work-life balance reasons.”

Some assistants at the Swans and Giants are not paid enough to relocate their families to Sydney.

“You’re on $180,000 as a coach and you rent for a family with three kids – it’s $1300 a week to rent in Sydney,” one agent has said.

The workload is extreme and the market is volatile. One assistant said the job required 60-70 hours every week and he would email reports beyond 2am following Sunday twilight games.

“They put in an enormous amount of work, and it’s not just in the office,“ the senior coach said.

“You get home to spend time with family and the kids and then go, ‘OK, when do I pick up my computer and start coding?’

“You’re trying to get vision off a computer from three or four different angles to show all of your players their best version, plus opportunities for them to learn.

“You want to be snappy with the players. They want to see the shorter version, they don’t want to see the long version.

“So you’ve got to siphon through it all and find the good edits that can help.

“Doing that takes hours and hours and hours. I reckon coding a game takes six hours, and then you might do two hours of reports.

“Eight hours is another full day every week. Find that time after you’ve played and before you walk in on Monday.

“They need to get paid more because of the amount of time they put in.”

THE GOLDEN TOUCH

It is a profession with the power to change lives forever.

Geelong superstar Tom Stewart’s story is well-known. He is the five-time All-Australian unearthed as a local legend in 2016 by his South Barwon coach Matthew Scarlett.

“The way ‘Scarlo’ viewed me and the belief he had in me was something that I never saw in myself as a young man,” Stewart told this masthead.

In 2020, and with their under-18 season cancelled, some Western Jets enrolled in former Tiger Steve Morris’s Zoom coaching sessions.

This masthead attended one of the weekly sessions as Massimo D’Ambrosio was asked to help pick apart Melbourne’s game style.

D’Ambrosio showed behind-the-goals vision of Kozzie Pickett, Mitch Hannan and Jake Melksham guarding space, forcing Saint Callum Wilkie wide from a kick-out.

Morris highlighted their lively body language.

“If I’m looking at that from the coaches’ box I’m thinking my forwards are on. They’re ready to defend and keep the ball in our forward half.”

Two years later Essendon drafted D’Ambrosio out of Richmond’s VFL team, where he was coached by Morris.

Matthew Scarlett at Cats training in 2021. Picture: Alison Wynd

Morris has since moulded fellow VFL defenders Tylar Young and James Trezise into AFL Tigers.

There are gold nuggets everywhere.

Last year, Sandringham Dragons coach Rob Harding placed a premium on contested drills while also emphasising a technique to protect the head.

Nine Dragons, headlined by Bulldog Ryley Sanders, were drafted in November and their contested craft instantly impressed their new AFL clubs.

Last week, St Kilda re-signed development guru Damian Carroll.

“Having a coach of Damian’s calibre and character is pivotal in seeing our youth maximise their potential,” footy boss Dave Misson said.

“His natural affinity for teaching and passion to help players be the best they can be, coupled with the admiration he has among the playing group, speaks volumes.”

Corey Enright – nicknamed the “half-back whisperer” by Ross Lyon after igniting Nasiah Wanganeen-Milera’s career – was also recontracted at Moorabbin until 2026.

Some suspect Enright will step up should Lyon eventually decide to step down.

“But some assistants don’t want the senior job, they just want to be good assistants,” the senior coach said.

“It’s a massive shock, because you can’t plan for it. It doesn’t matter how much preparation you do.”

In 2012-13 Adam Simpson, Luke Beveridge, Brendon Bolton, Leon Cameron and Chris Fagan shared an office at Waverley with head coach Alastair Clarkson.

They all landed senior jobs and they came from all walks of life.

TIME FOR EVERYBODY

Sergeant James Debano joined Collingwood’s AFLW program as part of a secondment between the club and the Australian Defence Force.

Chloe Molloy saluted Debano as her standout specialist coach. They bonded over banter.

“I gave a bit of tongue in cheek to him and he gave it straight back,” Molloy said.

“There was this drill we were doing and I piped up and said, ‘Oi, that’s not fair’ and he smirked at me, and I was like, ‘Yep, I’m going to get along well with you’.

“The head coaches don’t have all the time whereas having an assistant coach it feels like they’ve got all the time in the world for you.”

Giants star Josh Kelly said line coaches were up for a laugh.

“All the best assistant coaches have a bit of fun,“ Kelly said.

“They can make a meeting a bit more lighthearted when it needs to be, and out on the track not everything needs to be 100 per cent dialled in all the time.”

James Kelly during his time coaching at Essendon. Picture: Scott Barbour

Stewart sings the praises of James Kelly and Nigel Lappin.

“The way (Kelly) views the game is second to none. His footy nous is incredible,“ Stewart said. “He’s not a coach who yells and screams. He absolutely wants the best out of us and holds us to high standards, but he really coaches us well.

“And Lappin has been the constant for the last decade for me, having worked with him in the VFL and then in the AFL system.

“He’s just an amazing human. You can see why the footy club is so desperate to keep him and why ‘Scotty’ (coach Chris Scott) has him by his side.

“He’s got time for everybody, from the executive to the cleaners of the club.”

AFL field umpires respect coaches Bryan Sheehan and Scott McLaren because they understand their perspective and back them in, having blown the whistle at a combined 731 games and 11 grand finals.

Patrick Cripps and Touk Miller pumped up John Barker and Matthew Lappin respectively. Barker now coaches Carey Grammar while Lappin is at QAFL outfit Surfers Paradise.

Fortunately Corey (Fremantle development coach) and Russell (North Melbourne midfield coach 2021-23, Carlton forwards coach 2024) landed on their feet after departing the Dogs.

Those at the Dockers say Corey is the first to arrive and the last to leave.

When players texted Corey wanting to work on a skill he would arrive at training two hours early to complete one-on-one blocks.

They became so popular that players wanting to finetune the same skill now sign up to a group session.

John Barker now coaches Carey Grammar. Picture: Wayne Ludbey

Caleb Serong credited Corey for the nuances of his running patterns and bodywork.

“He doesn’t just think about the individual,“ Serong said. “He thinks about the game as a whole, the other players and teammates around him and how it all works together.”

The Dockers elevated Corey from development to midfield coach when Josh Carr crossed to Port Adelaide last season.

The promotion was predictable to Bontempelli.

“He has moved his way up and his responsibilities have grown up there, which was never a shock when he first walked in their door.”

So, what makes a great assistant?

“Think back to the best teacher you had in your school days,” the senior coach said.

“Why was that your best teacher? Because they talked to you a lot, they helped you out technically and also through life, and they challenged you.

“Whatever your version of that is, they’re the good assistants.”