Cornes: The Crows’ tough call to sack Brenton Sanderson was cruel but fair

THE Adelaide Crows made a tough decision in sacking Brenton Sanderson, but what else could they have done? Should they tolerate mediocrity?

18/09/14 Sacked Adelaide Crows coach Brenton Sanderson press conference at AAMI Stadium. photo Calum Robertson

BRENTON Sanderson exited the Adelaide Football Club the right way — with dignity.

At his final press conference he said all the right things: despite the fury that would have been raging within there was no bitterness, anger or recrimination.

He looked good too — casually professional with no hint of the mandatory club livery and sponsors’ logos that have accompanied his press conferences over the past three years — just a black suit and an understated open-necked white shirt, no tie.

Strangely, despite the anguish of the previous 24 hours he looked relaxed, even relieved.

However, it is all a facade as he tries to mask the tumultuous disappointment of his surprise sacking.

It’s bad enough when you have an inkling that things aren’t going well; it’s devastating when you don’t see it coming.

Perhaps he should have seen it coming: there had been rumblings for some time that Sando’s messages weren’t resonating with all players. It wasn’t only the players though. His criticism, implied or otherwise, of some of his staff members also impacted.

Such friction should always be expected within a professional sporting organisation. People have to be moved out of their comfort zone if a mediocre team is going to improve.

It is a coach’s job to push the boundaries of tolerance. If the team succeeds the coach is a genius; if not it becomes difficult to dodge the retributions of those he has offended.

This is a me, me, me generation that does not accept criticism all that well.

What was the Adelaide Football Club to do? Could it tolerate the mediocrity of the past two seasons?

It was obvious that the team was good enough to compete well into September, yet it had fallen agonisingly short. Losing those close games did not help.

Losing games against lower-ranked teams makes it worse when performance is measured against high expectation.

Unfortunately, when the coach tried to explain those lapses, his reasons sounded like excuses.

Statistics are no consolation when all a club and its supporters want are results.

It would have been easy, cheaper and far less controversial to allow the coach to see out his contact and hope that his message would eventually get through.

However, if your key stakeholders — the players — are disenchanted and it looks as if you might lose them as soon as they qualify for free agency, more drastic action has to be taken. The disappointment of that is that not all players are disenchanted.

As Sando said, he fell in love with the playing group and has been gratified by the number of players that had contacted him to offer thanks and condolences.

But not all of them did. Don’t most love stories end in tears?

So the drastic action to remove him was taken. The tricky thing is the chairman and the board cannot tell the full story.

They can’t tell the football world what was being said about their coach behind closed doors.

Confidentiality is one of the reasons for that. The other, more telling, is that they would not want to publicly traduce the reputation of the coach. Don’t kick the man while he is down.

So the pressure is now well and truly on the board and the players.

Be careful what you wish for. Finding a coach ready made to improve the team will not be easy.

Unlike Port Adelaide, which had descended to the depths of incompetence in 2012 and could only improve, the Crows still have plenty to lose.

The new man, whoever he is, will know nothing but pressure from the moment he accepts the job.

Brenton Sanderson will move on. He will be angry, the humiliation will burn and he will resent those who he feels plotted against him, but such emotions will be wasted and need to be addressed swiftly before they erode his dignity and his self-esteem.

He will want revenge, but that will harm him more than it will harm his tormentors.

It’s happened. Accept it and above all accept the responsibility for it, for while it may not entirely be his fault, it is his reality to deal with.

Then he really may feel as dignified as he looks.

Originally published as Cornes: The Crows’ tough call to sack Brenton Sanderson was cruel but fair