Could Phil do it again?

[Sojourner]

Looking back into SANFL history it is incredible IMO what Phil Carman did with the Sturt Football Club, taking it from a series of Wooden Spoons to becoming competitive in the SANFL finals on a consistant basis, sure another man came in and took the side to the Premiership, Yet its unclear at best if PC would not have done the same thing with another year at the club. What is definate is how he rebuilt the SFC and did so at a time when the club struggled financially and could not give him all the resources that some of his competitors had at their disposal.

Which brings me to the question, Could Phil Carman rebuild a current Norwood, South, Port Adelaide side and make the competitive again in the SANFL finals? Is he someone that SANFL sides should have on their radar when potentially looking for a new coach at the end of the season?

[GWW]

There would certainly be worse candidates out there than Carman. Does anyone know what he's doing these days, presumably he's back in Victoria somewhere??

[JK]

Does anyone know what he's doing these days, presumably he's back in Victoria somewhere??

Thats the big question, along with what he's been doing since he left the Blues .. Thought he got tied up in his pub immediately after Sturt without any footy involvement?

[godoubleblues]

Does anyone know what he's doing these days, presumably he's back in Victoria somewhere??

Thats the big question, along with what he's been doing since he left the Blues .. Thought he got tied up in his pub immediately after Sturt without any footy involvement?

didnt he take up umpiring somewhere around Bendigo, thought I heard it or read it somewhere

[JK]

Does anyone know what he's doing these days, presumably he's back in Victoria somewhere??

Thats the big question, along with what he's been doing since he left the Blues .. Thought he got tied up in his pub immediately after Sturt without any footy involvement?

didnt he take up umpiring somewhere around Bendigo, thought I heard it or read it somewhere

That does ring a bell actually

[Hondo]

Which brings me to the question, Could Phil Carman rebuild a current Norwood, South, Port Adelaide side and make the competitive again in the SANFL finals? Is he someone that SANFL sides should have on their radar when potentially looking for a new coach at the end of the season?

You're assuming all the credit for the Sturt rebuild should go to Phil. Sturt people, is that correct? Did anything else happen in the late 90s that helped Sturt get back on track? They recruited well so I am assuming new funds came from somewhere to give Phil some cattle to work with.

I am always wary of heaping 100% of the credit or blame for a club's movement on the ladder on just the senior coach. It's usually an over-simplification.

[Blue Boy]

Which brings me to the question, Could Phil Carman rebuild a current Norwood, South, Port Adelaide side and make the competitive again in the SANFL finals? Is he someone that SANFL sides should have on their radar when potentially looking for a new coach at the end of the season?

You're assuming all the credit for the Sturt rebuild should go to Phil. Sturt people, is that correct? Did anything else happen in the late 90s that helped Sturt get back on track? They recruited well so I am assuming new funds came from somewhere to give Phil some cattle to work with.

I am always wary of heaping 100% of the credit or blame for a club's movement on the ladder on just the senior coach. It's usually an over-simplification.

He took the job no one wanted.

Did it for nothing initially

And we became competitive again

The guys wanted to play for him and the recruits came after

I rekon he can take a lot of credit !!!

[Hondo]

For sure he deserves some of the credit. But did the recruits play for nothing? That's my point.

Unless his new club has a similar recruiting budget I don't see how he alone is going to lift a bunch of average cattle to the level of Centrals, for example.

[JK]

I knew someone, VERY much on the inside at Sturt back in those days, and those young lads absolutely worshipped Phil from what I was told .. Almost like he was a father figure, but also a mate at the same time.

I'd guess those lads took a while to mature and get closer as a group, but I dont think there's any doubting the influence fab had.

[Sojourner]

On one occassion in the first year of Phil Carman coaching Sturt I happened to be in earshot of the changerooms after Sturt had been given quite a thumping. I expected to hear the coach get angry and upset at the players but he did neither, his reaction was one of dissapointment and you really got the sense from the playing group that they were genuinley quite ashamed of losing in the way that they had. So I echo the thoughts above about what the playing group thought of Carman. If some of the current SANFL coaches had that level of respect it might change their results, yet maybe ultimatley that is part of their current problems.

Perhaps one question is why Phil Carman got that level of respect from the playing group, I think that he sacrificed a lot to coach at Sturt and maybe it was recognised by the playing group. Maybe being the highest paid coach isnt the best way to go in the SANFL as a result?

[therisingblues]

Sojouner, I witnessed similar scenes during the 3 quarter time huddles. Sturt would be getting whipped as usual, but Phil was calm in his address, just went through the things he wanted the group to concentrate on and gave them some encouragement. They were basically kids back then, a reserves side that had to step up play league because the club had very little money to pay recruits or anybody with a reputation, and going on what Sturt had gone through the previous few years, nobody of note really wanted to play for us anyway.
A couple of years later, when we were semi-competitive it was an interesting contrast watching Phil get fired up if anybody gave less than 100%. You could hear a pin drop within the crowd of about 100 people at the huddle after he finished serving it up to whoever.
You just knew things were changing, we'd finally found the right street. Gives me goosebumps right now just thinking about those days.
I believe Phil was one of those who applied to coach Sturt after Phillips left. So he may still be about to have another crack. I think the bloke deserves it, and has a lot to offer, particularly a club like South. Just give him the reins, I'm sure he'd have the club going in the right direction in a year or two.

I don't think he would have delievered the flag in 2002 for Sturt. From what I understand Phillips cashed in by introducing a slight variation of tricks on an already well drilled group, and then saved up the grand daddy of game plans for the big day. It seemed we were one dimensional after that, and everybody pegged us out.
Phil's day should have been 1998. What a bloody fairytale that would have been....

[ORDoubleBlues]

Think he could but club concerned would have to have faith in him and his philosophies and not interfere with what he was trying to do.

[csbowes]

You're assuming all the credit for the Sturt rebuild should go to Phil. Sturt people, is that correct? Did anything else happen in the late 90s that helped Sturt get back on track? They recruited well so I am assuming new funds came from somewhere to give Phil some cattle to work with.

Phill made the tough decisions when he first arrived. He ditched some of the players who were playing on reputations and not giving 100% to the club. That left us with a bunch of kids.

While we didn't win a single match in 1995, I felt it was a turning point for the club. The kids really tried hard, they just weren't good enough to compete with the men in the other teams.

I felt genuinely sorry for the kids, trying so hard, yet getting smacked, but it sure did bear fruit in years to come. As another poster stated, 1998 should have been his year and fairytale finish.

[Booney]

Sojouner, I witnessed similar scenes during the 3 quarter time huddles. Sturt would be getting whipped as usual, but Phil was calm in his address, just went through the things he wanted the group to concentrate on and gave them some encouragement. They were basically kids back then, a reserves side that had to step up play league because the club had very little money to pay recruits or anybody with a reputation, and going on what Sturt had gone through the previous few years, nobody of note really wanted to play for us anyway.
A couple of years later, when we were semi-competitive it was an interesting contrast watching Phil get fired up if anybody gave less than 100%. You could hear a pin drop within the crowd of about 100 people at the huddle after he finished serving it up to whoever.
You just knew things were changing, we'd finally found the right street. Gives me goosebumps right now just thinking about those days.
I believe Phil was one of those who applied to coach Sturt after Phillips left. So he may still be about to have another crack. I think the bloke deserves it, and has a lot to offer, particularly a club like South. Just give him the reins, I'm sure he'd have the club going in the right direction in a year or two.

I don't think he would have delievered the flag in 2002 for Sturt. From what I understand Phillips cashed in by introducing a slight variation of tricks on an already well drilled group, and then saved up the grand daddy of game plans for the big day. It seemed we were one dimensional after that, and everybody pegged us out.
Phil's day should have been 1998. What a bloody fairytale that would have been....

Tell us about 98 some more.

[csbowes]

Tell us about 98 some more.

That was the year the good guys lost to the bad guys. The same thing happened in the AFL... tragic season!

[Voice]

Which brings me to the question, Could Phil Carman rebuild a current Norwood, South, Port Adelaide side and make the competitive again in the SANFL finals? Is he someone that SANFL sides should have on their radar when potentially looking for a new coach at the end of the season?

You're assuming all the credit for the Sturt rebuild should go to Phil. Sturt people, is that correct? Did anything else happen in the late 90s that helped Sturt get back on track? They recruited well so I am assuming new funds came from somewhere to give Phil some cattle to work with.

I am always wary of heaping 100% of the credit or blame for a club's movement on the ladder on just the senior coach. It's usually an over-simplification.

Matt Benson stepped in for the off field stuff which helped out quite a bit also. Very smart man.

[JK]

While we didn't win a single match in 1995, I felt it was a turning point for the club. The kids really tried hard, they just weren't good enough to compete with the men in the other teams.

CS .. Would it be fair to say the hierachy at the club showed some fair balls not to replace him after such a poor initial stint .. Not suggesting he didn't have much to work with initially, but it would take a fair deal of faith to stick with the plan after a season like that?

[Ash59]

Why Norwood have never secured Carmen as coach is beyond me... is there any bad blood between him and the club from his playing days??

[Booney]

While we didn't win a single match in 1995, I felt it was a turning point for the club. The kids really tried hard, they just weren't good enough to compete with the men in the other teams.

CS .. Would it be fair to say the hierachy at the club showed some fair balls not to replace him after such a poor initial stint .. Not suggesting he didn't have much to work with initially, but it would take a fair deal of faith to stick with the plan after a season like that?

A good mate of mine, well into his 40's is still so cut up by season '95 I can draw a tear from his eye at the mere mention of it. I guess the rest of us can only imagine how good 2002 would have felt for those that were there in '95.

[Blue Boy]

Why Norwood have never secured Carmen as coach is beyond me... is there any bad blood between him and the club from his playing days??

He has been known to tell people how it is to - just depends who is still around from his playing days !!!