Herald Sun AFL magazine: New columnist Matthew Lloyd turns up the heat on underperforming coaches
IT’S hard to remember a build-up to a season where so many coaches are under extreme pressure, but it’s not only Nathan Buckley and Damien Hardwick feeling it, writes MATTHEW LLOYD.
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THE pressure on AFL footballers to perform at an elite level has never been greater than it is today.
But one thing they have in their favour is that there are 800 of them spread across 18 clubs, which allows them some respite from media scrutiny and internal pressures over a long winter.
The same can’t be said for the 18 coaches, who must feel so lonely at different stages during a season when their team is underperforming, and the club’s board and members are demanding answers.
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It’s hard to remember a build-up to a season where so many coaches are under extreme pressure to hit the ground running from Round 1 and take their teams into September action.
It’s a simple equation for Collingwood’s Nathan Buckley and Port Adelaide’s Ken Hinkley: they must take their teams to the finals in 2017, and possibly win one, if they are to remain at the helm in 2018.
Some may say it’s not as simple as that, and different circumstances can occur — such as injuries — to prevent finals being a possibility, but both would be well aware that the time is now.
The past two seasons for Hinkley, and three for Buckley, have been major fails.
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Both are fierce competitors, but they have been questioned in recent years for their inability to change the course of a game from the coach’s box.
A lack of consistency in effort from one week to the next, when the talent is quite often the equal of the opposition, has also been a major concern for both clubs.
Buckley has the No.1 ranked midfield at his disposal, but lacks the depth of key-position players to back Darcy Moore and Ben Reid, so I’m not so optimistic about the Pies in comparison with other teams on the rise such as Melbourne, St Kilda and Essendon.
Buckley has coached Collingwood for five years and the games-won stat over those years has continued to be in freefall.
Since he took over, the Pies have won 17, 14, 11, 10 and just nine games last year, so you don’t have to be a Rhodes Scholar to work out he needs to take his team to the finals this year to survive. He even stated it himself late last year.
With Paddy Ryder back in the fold at Port Adelaide and a midfield/half-forward line that consists of Robbie Gray, Chad Wingard, Ollie Wines, Travis Boak and Hamish Hartlett, there are no excuses left for this highly-talented group who took the competition by storm in 2013-14 — Hinkley’s first two seasons as coach.
I get the feeling president David Koch won’t be afraid to make the hard call if Port has another underperforming year.
Damien Hardwick’s last outing as coach would just about have been his most humiliating day in football.
Hardwick is as proud as they come and to see Richmond wave the white flag from the opening bounce against Sydney in Round 23 on its way to a 113-point shellacking must have had him questioning whether he was still the right person for the job.
It doesn’t matter what we do in life, we all doubt our ability at times and Hardwick must have wondered that night whether his message was being lost on the players after seven years in the job.
Richmond has become a sound club off the field and it didn’t panic when the calls came to move Hardwick on.
But on the field is where actions speak loudest, and the Tigers must play with a harder edge to win back some of the respect they lost early on last year.
Brett Deledio will be a big loss, but Josh Caddy and Dion Prestia are more than adequate replacements.
With the best bookends in the game in Alex Rance and Jack Riewoldt, plus Trent Cotchin and Dustin Martin through the midfield, they can’t be the toothless Tigers in 2017 if Hardwick is any chance to stay in 2018.
Two experienced men Rodney Eade and Ross Lyon will be intriguing to watch.
It’s hard to know where the Gold Coast Suns and Fremantle sit in the pecking order of teams looking to make ground on the likes of Sydney, Geelong and Hawthorn and, after last year, the Western Bulldogs and Greater Western Sydney.
Both sides had horror runs with injuries and can only improve, but Lyon tried a very different game style early last year that blew up in his face when they were so easily scored against. What he has cooking up in Perth will be fascinating.
Success for Fremantle is crucial this year because Nathan Fyfe’s signature might be riding on it.
Brad Scott made list decisions on the eve of last year’s finals series that upset many.
But in his own mind, he knew the time was right for the Kangaroos to look to the future and decisions like the one to end 432-gamer Brent Harvey’s career take massive courage.
The Roos have been close, but just not good enough and Scott looks like he’s in for the long haul with two years left on his current contract.
Chris Scott and John Longmire were close, but in the end were beaten by a red-hot side at the business end of the season.
Both are premiership coaches, which buys you time, but Longmire has more credits in the bank, having taken his side to three grand finals.
They both have lists in contention again which means anything less than a flag brings disappointment.
The blowtorch will be applied to Scott in particular if the Cats don’t finish top four.
John Worsfold is highly regarded for bringing groups together and setting a strong culture. He did a tremendous job last year after losing most of his best players. Essendon has a strong list and it’s now time to reward their loyal fans with some consistent football that should see them challenge for the top eight.
Pressure comes in all forms and how must Leon Cameron be feeling when it seems like 2017 will be a failed season if the Giants don’t win the premiership with the experience this talented group of players now has.
It was the one that got away last year, but the experience of a big finals series will do them good.
I’m told Cameron’s expectations and demands have gone through the roof over the summer.
For all that, they are chasing Western Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge.
Not only was he tactically brilliant through the 2016 finals series, he was able to create an environment at Whitten Oval that had his players wanting to play for him and each other in a way that had the footy world in love with the Bulldogs.
It’s an ingredient that all coaches wish they could bottle, but rarely see in their coaching lifetime.
Originally published as Herald Sun AFL magazine: New columnist Matthew Lloyd turns up the heat on underperforming coaches
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