‘Something just cracks’: pressure of life as an AFL coach

Not long before Dean Laidley was arrested, he had been asked about why he no longer had any contact with the AFL.

Former North Melbourne coach Dean Laidley cut himself off from AFL

Not long before Dean Laidley was arrested on serious criminal charges last Saturday, he had been asked about why he no longer had any contact with the AFL.

“When I finished in the AFL, I really cut myself off and I did that on purpose,” he said.

According to triple-premiership coach Mick Malthouse, Laidley is not alone in shunning the industry he once excelled in after his time at the top level ended in abrupt circumstances.

“This is a common thread with nearly every bloke … men don’t gravitate to support. They tend to shun it. They tend to walk away from it and they tend to isolate themselves,” he said.

“A lot of these blokes, they just absorb it, the family absorbs it, and then something cracks. I can categorically tell you the number of coaches who have come in and gone from the game and they age very quickly. They become old men very quickly.”

As Laidley spent Monday night in a cell in Melbourne, AFL Hall of Fame member Terry Wallace raised concerns about a worrying trend. The former Richmond and Western Bulldogs coach said he was “seriously disturbed by the fallout and trend of major issues facing our past senior AFL coaches” over the past decade.

Laidley, who is on remand facing several criminal charges including stalking and will appear in a Melbourne court next Monday, is the most recent example of a struggling former coach.

Geelong dual premiership coach Mark Thompson is serving a community corrections order after being fined $3000 in court last year on drug offences.

The sudden death last September of former St Kilda captain and Richmond coach Danny Frawley, a prominent mental health advocate, also rocked the industry.

And there was despair when James Hird overdosed on prescription drugs in January 2017, but the Essendon champion and former coach has regained his health and remains busy.

“It is interesting. Richard Court, the (former) premier of Western Australia, said to me one day ‘I get judged every four years. You get judged every week’,” Malthouse told 3AW.

“We always think the pollies are under pressure and they are, but in football coaching, you take it on and it is not a martyrdom — you don’t go out there thinking I am going to be a martyr — but as it grabs hold of you, it is more relentless and it is more demanding and you have to have a really good partner and a really … understanding family, otherwise you are trying to compromise both sides.”

AFL Coaches Association chief executive Mark Brayshaw acknowledged there was huge stress on coaches but described the situation as a double-edged sword.

He cited an annual survey of AFL coaches last year that showed job satisfaction “through the roof”.

“They said it was the best possible way to have an involvement in the game,” Brayshaw said.

The perks are clear in terms of remaining involved in a professional industry while being well remunerated, though cost-cutting measures caused by COVID-19 will have an impact.

A former North Melbourne player and board member who also served as Richmond’s chief executive for four years, Brayshaw has extensive AFL experience. He also has three sons on AFL lists; Angus is with Melbourne, Andrew is a Docker and Hamish an Eagle.

But Brayshaw said he did not conceive exactly how consuming the senior role was until taking on his current position.

“It is extraordinary. I just had no idea how stressful and how intensive it is, even when those teams are doing well,” he said.

He acknowledged that similarly to some footballers, there are examples of coaches struggling to adjust to a role outside of football.

“There are very few jobs that are as rewarding and as exciting as coaching and almost inevitably, there is a let-down in the next phase of life,” he said.

Given the recent issues, Wallace pondered “as a matter of urgency” whether enough was done to assist former coaches.

Brayshaw said that current coaches are able to access a psychologist through the body and that the AFLCA also encouraged members to pursue further qualifications. Such a move enables them to make the most of their man-management and organisational skills and use them in other jobs.

Former St Kilda coach Alan Richardson is among those who have studied short-term courses at Harvard in recent years.

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