Woodville's appointment of John Todd in 1988

[westozfalcon]

I was reading a book recently about renowned WA coach John Todd and was surprised to learn that he was all signed up to coach Woodville from the start of 1988. Then he accepted a late offer from West Coast Eagles to become senior coach after they sacked Ron Alexander. Todd had to pay $5,000 to the Peckers for breaking the contract.

Does anybody know any other details concerning the Todd 'appointment' and who ended up getting the job?

[schimma]

I was reading a book recently about renowned WA coach John Todd and was surprised to learn that he was all signed up to coach Woodville from the start of 1988. Then he accepted a late offer from West Coast Eagles to become senior coach after they sacked Ron Alexander. Todd had to pay $5,000 to the Peckers for breaking the contract.

Does anybody know any other details concerning the Todd 'appointment' and who ended up getting the job?

[Leaping Lindner]

Blight had quit Woodville after the elimination final (actually I think it may have been at 3/4 time address of the game - seriously ), and Todd was snapped up by Woodville by the end of the finals. As you say Alexander was then sacked by the Eagles and Todd offered the job. Todd for reasons I'm not clear had just left Swan Districts after 10 years.
Why Todd had left the Swans after 10 years I'm not sure. Maybe he was promised Alexander's job and then when it looked liked Alexander was staying on he took the Woodville job before Alexander was finally sacked???
Russell Ebert was then offered the Woodville job after he was dumped by Port Adelaide as their coach.

[westozfalcon]

Blight had quit Woodville after the elimination final (actually I think it may have been at 3/4 time address of the game - seriously ), and Todd was snapped up by Woodville by the end of the finals. As you say Alexander was then sacked by the Eagles and Todd offered the job. Todd for reasons I'm not clear had just left Swan Districts after 10 years.
Why Todd had left the Swans after 10 years I'm not sure. Maybe he was promised Alexander's job and then when it looked liked Alexander was staying on he took the Woodville job before Alexander was finally sacked???
Russell Ebert was then offered the Woodville job after he was dumped by Port Adelaide as their coach.

Todd thought he'd gone past his use-by date at Swans and them getting the wooden spoon in 1987 probably heightened that feeling. Also like you suggested he was miffed at being overlooked as the inaugural Eagles coach when Alexander got the job. In fact Todd never even got an interview.

[ORDoubleBlues]

Blight had quit Woodville after the elimination final (actually I think it may have been at 3/4 time address of the game - seriously ), and Todd was snapped up by Woodville by the end of the finals. As you say Alexander was then sacked by the Eagles and Todd offered the job. Todd for reasons I'm not clear had just left Swan Districts after 10 years.
Why Todd had left the Swans after 10 years I'm not sure. Maybe he was promised Alexander's job and then when it looked liked Alexander was staying on he took the Woodville job before Alexander was finally sacked???
Russell Ebert was then offered the Woodville job after he was dumped by Port Adelaide as their coach.

Todd thought he'd gone past his use-by date at Swans and them getting the wooden spoon in 1987 probably heightened that feeling. Also like you suggested he was miffed at being overlooked as the inaugural Eagles coach when Alexander got the job. In fact Todd never even got an interview.

(T)Odd that he didn't get an interview and even more odd that Alexander wasn't reappointed after the initial season. Unless there was more to it, a classic example of expectations being out of control if they thought they were going to make finals first up.

Interesting story about the Woodville link - one YT certainly wasn't aware of.

[westozfalcon]

Blight had quit Woodville after the elimination final (actually I think it may have been at 3/4 time address of the game - seriously ), and Todd was snapped up by Woodville by the end of the finals. As you say Alexander was then sacked by the Eagles and Todd offered the job. Todd for reasons I'm not clear had just left Swan Districts after 10 years.
Why Todd had left the Swans after 10 years I'm not sure. Maybe he was promised Alexander's job and then when it looked liked Alexander was staying on he took the Woodville job before Alexander was finally sacked???
Russell Ebert was then offered the Woodville job after he was dumped by Port Adelaide as their coach.

Todd thought he'd gone past his use-by date at Swans and them getting the wooden spoon in 1987 probably heightened that feeling. Also like you suggested he was miffed at being overlooked as the inaugural Eagles coach when Alexander got the job. In fact Todd never even got an interview.

(T)Odd that he didn't get an interview and even more odd that Alexander wasn't reappointed after the initial season. Unless there was more to it, a classic example of expectations being out of control if they thought they were going to make finals first up.

Interesting story about the Woodville link - one YT certainly wasn't aware of.

Yeah it was amazing that Alexander got sacked after his team won 11 of 22 games in their inaugural season. These days if a new AFL side won 11 games in their first year you'd think it was a resounding success!! The Eagles only just missed the top 5 which was a terrific first-up effort when you think about it.
I think Alexander was perceived to be weak on discipline - something Todd was definitely not!

As for Todd I think it would have been very interesting to see how he'd have gone at Woodville. He was very good at developing struggling sides.

[FlyingHigh]

Honestly letting Todd go was probably the end of the Woodville club. Even though I was young, believe such an appointment would have enhanced the club's reputation that had grown after 86 and 87, to the extent where it was felt we were actually taken half-seriously by the football community.
As I have stated elsewhere, always believe it was (and is) a mistake to appoint a coach who has coached a club in the same competition the previous year (in any senior league), without any break, as they can bring too much baggage or history, and this was never more so with Ebert, being such a legend of Port, his sacking, and all the public reaction that came with it.

[Hondo]

Woodville were still competitive from 88-90 so I don't feel Russell Ebert disgraced himself as their coach. IIRC they finished 6th-7th each year which, given their history, would go down as one of their more successful eras. Remember this was a team that only ever made the finals 3 times for a 2-3 all time finals record.

I heard an interview with Peter Schwarze and even he admitted that the 86 Warriors over-achieved and that 3rd flattered them, as exciting as we all thought it was at the time. They finished 4th or 5th at the end of the minor round on the back of a 10 game or so (?) winning streak. The whole state was behind them it seemed at the time!

So I think it's tough to compare Ebert's record at Woodville against an out-of-the-box single season by Blighty. That's no disrespect intended to what Blighty achieved in turning the club around from 1983-1987.

[FlyingHigh]

Woodville were still competitive from 88-90 so I don't feel Russell Ebert disgraced himself as their coach. IIRC they finished 6th-7th each year which, given their history, would go down as one of their more successful eras. Remember this was a team that only ever made the finals 3 times for a 2-3 all time finals record.

I heard an interview with Peter Schwarze and even he admitted that the 86 Warriors over-achieved and that 3rd flattered them, as exciting as we all thought it was at the time. They finished 4th or 5th at the end of the minor round on the back of a 10 game or so (?) winning streak. The whole state was behind them it seemed at the time!

So I think it's tough to compare Ebert's record at Woodville against an out-of-the-box single season by Blighty. That's no disrespect intended to what Blighty achieved in turning the club around from 1983-1987.

Probably disagree a bit with that Hondo - Woodville were third in 1986 until the last round when we lost to South and cost us the double chance. And 86 wasn't just one-out-of-the-box, because in 1987 we were top or second all year up until about round 16 when we lost the last 6.

Agree that Ebert didn't disgrace himself and we were competitive, but we probably had more of a list than to be just 6-8th, and for whatever reason we didn't. 1988 and 1990 we never really challeneged for the finals, think up until the last 5 rounds of 1989 we were challenging for the finals, but were never quite good enough.

[dedja]

All I know is that I was sh*ttng myself deep into the last quarter in the '86 Prelim before the Bays just got over the line.

Jeez Woodville were an exiting team that year ... pity it pettered out so quickly.

[nowerman]

Swans had finished on the bottom in 1986, which no doubt cost Todd the job at WCE for their first year, They couldnt be seen giving it to someone who had coached his team to the wooden spoon. Alexander's team East Fremantle got thumped by Subiaco in the 1986 WAFL Grand Final, but Subiaco's coach Haydn Bunton Jnr had no interest in coaching in the VFL.
Swans rebounded in 1987 to make it to the 1st Semi Final.
Todd got WCE to their first final in 1988, and had a lot of injuries the following year. Interestingly, he is one of only 3 men to coach over 700 games. Jack Oatey holds the record, followed by Jock McHale then Todd in third. After bing sacked by WCE in 1989, Todd went back to Swan Districts and coached them to the premiership in 1990 in an upset win against the more fancied Claremont. He also coached South Fremantle to a premiership in 1997.

[rd]

There's a Woodville/West Torrens history book being written at the moment - covers the entire history of West Torrens FC, the entire history of Woodville FC & of course everything that has happened before, during and since the merger. I asked the author about the Todd 1988 story - he knew all about it and it is definitely in the book. Also some insights into the Woodville 1986 season and why & how the players turned that season on its head. The book isnt that far away from completion - it will be a great read and a must-buy for us dedicated SANFL heads.