Brendan McCartney opens up about the Ryan Griffen trade request, his relationship with Mark Thompson and more

Brendan McCartney says Clayton Oliver rivals Joel Selwood as the most competitive player he has seen in three decades in footy. But they haven’t always been on the same page.

This week’s episode of Sacked is with Brendan McCartney.

Sacked Western Bulldogs coach Brendan McCartney believes he would have kept his job if Ryan Griffen hadn’t dropped a trade bombshell request on the club days after the 2014 season.

But McCartney concedes he should have given Griffen more support as captain in those dramatic last months of a season where some players turned against him.

McCartney is acclaimed as one of the AFL’s greatest teaching coaches but admits he turned into a “grumpy bastard” at times in his third and final season as Dogs coach.

McCartney tells the Herald Sun’s Sacked podcast he had been assured of his job under a late-season review only weeks before, but when Griffen’s request came through he knew he was cooked.

McCartney would be sacked the next day — October 10, 2014 — despite having been handed a contract extension the previous November.

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Asked whether he would have coached in 2015, a reflective and honest McCartney believes so, but admitted his own failings in those few months.

“I think so. I can’t answer it. If Pete (Gordon) was in the room we might shake hands and he’s the right man to ask. Gut feel … probably. There is always one last little bit of twig that cracks the axle, but it was a pretty big twig.

“Did I help him develop as a captain, could I have helped him more? Yeah, I think I could have helped him as a captain and a leader, but the raw material was there to do it in his own way. The agreement Griff and I had was ‘You do it your way, mate’; you don’t have to be raucous. The players loved him.

“Even the night (list manager) Jase (McCartney) took the call that Griff was leaving, we were talking to Tommy Lonergan, having a good chat to Tommy, about coming and developing and playing a couple of years there, and developing some of the young defenders, and to give Dale (Morris) a hand really.

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Ryan Griffen was captain of the Bulldogs in 2014.

“I went to bed on the Wednesday night thinking I was going to be coaching. By Thursday morning (when Griffen requested a trade), I wasn’t sure.

“I am not the smartest bloke in the world, but I am perceptive to people. And I had a heightened sense of awareness after Griff had decided to leave.

“I had a feeling Ryan would leave — he had an incredibly close relationship with Leon (Cameron). Leon had been really important to him in his youth. Even talking to Griff a couple of times, I thought he was probably going to leave.”

During two years of solid development in a significant rebuild the Dogs made strong progress, but McCartney admits he went away from his fundamentals as a supportive, empathetic coach in 2014.

He lost senior players including Griffen, Shaun Higgins and Adam Cooney and players eventually told president Peter Gordon of their concerns in a development that decided his fate.

INSIDE THE BOMBER V GAZ TENSION AT GEELONG

Brendan McCartney says Mark Thompson should be remembered as a coaching legend, adamant his 2010 contract tensions with Gary Ablett were about protecting the entire list of premiership stars.

Thompson coached Geelong to two premierships, but he was placed on a 12-month community corrections order last July after drug trafficking charges were dismissed by a Melbourne court.

The former Geelong assistant told the Herald Sun’s Sacked podcast that, while he often reached out to Thompson without reply, he would love to do more to help him.

Thompson grew frustrated with Ablett as Gold Coast launched a massive multimillion-dollar bid to secure him, while Ablett wanted to play as a pure midfielder rather than being pushed at times to half forward.

McCartney revealed he saw an incident where the pair walked at each other before veering away at the last minute, but said Thompson’s egalitarian nature was behind much of the tension.

Gary Ablett Jr is congratulated by Mark Thompson after winning the Brownlow Medal.

“It wasn’t as much as what was written, but Gary had some frustrations and clearly he had a lot on his mind,” he said.

“He was making some big decisions, he was still a total pro to work with.

“I loved coaching Gary, always smiled and bounced into your office, but he was juggling a lot.

“Bomber was very much a socialist coach in a lot of ways — he believed in parity and that was his electrician background and how he played.

“He didn’t play for big money and he was captain and he didn’t let go of that.

“I always felt his annoyance was around he was protecting the club and his players, and if the salary cap got out of whack, he didn’t want to see boys he loved walk out the door.

“He honestly thought there was enough for everyone to have a good life, and a good living and sometimes when you are a coach, you can protect that too much, to your own detriment.

“You have your ideals and your value systems and sometimes you just have to bend them a little bit to let other things unfold.

“I did see them almost walk into each other one day and then miss each other — one saw one coming and he went the other way.

“When I look back now I think (Thompson) was at the end of his tether — he always said he didn’t want them to have one coach their whole life.

“I think he was thinking it was time to do some different things.”

Thompson ended up as an assistant and then senior coach at Essendon, with McCartney adamant his legacy as a coaching genius should not be lost despite his controversial circumstances.

Gary Ablett hugs Mark Thompson after winning the 2007 premiership.

“I haven’t spoken to him in a while. But I do leave messages regularly. He is still incredibly loved and respected by his players or people who worked with him at the club. I hope everything works out well for him, we all love him dearly.

“Hopefully the industry remembers the footy great that he was — he was a phenomenal player and leader and he was an amazing coach, amazing ability to teach.

“He taught those boys how to play footy from day one, holding little meetings with a projector screen and when to go over near the ball.

“No one was teaching players back then, they are still not teaching them that now.

“He helped them know what to do whatever the ball was.”

THE NIGHT CLARRY HUNG UP ON MACCA

Former Melbourne assistant Brendan McCartney says Clayton Oliver rivals Joel Selwood as the most competitive player he has seen in three decades in footy.

McCartney admits his headstrong nature saw them butt heads, including the star onballer hanging up on him as they established what eventually became a rock-tight relationship.

McCartney, 59, retired last year after a brilliant career as an assistant and senior coach across numerous AFL clubs, with his last stint under Simon Goodwin.

He admits Goodwin was rocked for a night when Melbourne’s players told him they would not undertake a gruelling pre-season camp in the 2017-18 pre-season.

But he lauded the Melbourne coach as one of the brightest prospects in the game, despite Melbourne’s growing pains in a five-win 2019.

McCartney took Oliver under his wing as he transformed from a pudgy but talented ball winner into one of the best midfielders in the game.

He said Oliver eventually realised he needed to change aspects of his game and preparation.

“Clarry was just so headstrong. Some coaches can be turned off: ‘Hang on, this kid is not going to listen, why was he headstrong?’,” McCartney said on the Sacked podcast.

“There is a way to connect with people like Clarry and there is a way not to, but I was pretty strong with him. I was pretty direct.

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“I sent him off to get feedback from a raft of people. Not only was it resounding in some areas but it was consistent. I said, ‘So this isn’t made up, mate’.

“They were pretty willing (conversations). He hung up on me on the phone one night. He denies it, but he did. And I rang him back and said, ‘If you ever hang up on me again, it isn’t going to be great’. We were right after that.

“He is just so competitive. He is as competitive as I have ever met. That is going to stamp him as a super player.

“He is up there with Sel (Joel Selwood) for competitiveness, his drive to win.

“He can’t do it all the time because physically he is still maturing. We haven’t seen the best of him — there is still a lot more to come.”

Originally published as Brendan McCartney opens up about the Ryan Griffen trade request, his relationship with Mark Thompson and more