SA Footy

http://www.afc.com.au/news/newsarticle/ ... fault.aspx

coach;sanderson
asst coach; bickley
asst coach;?
asst coach;?
asst coach' ?

Bickley and hart were the only asst coaches out of contract. Rest remain to date

Does Adelaide need an experienced assistant coach such as Eade/Harvey?

Brodlach wrote:Does Adelaide need an experienced assistant coach such as Eade/Harvey?

No, I think these blokes would stiffle the development of Sanderson.
Sanderson has the job, let him make it his!

This whole senior assistant/mentor stuff is BS IMO..... The Malthouse/Bucks situation is totally different as the under study is just that, an understudy. Not the understudy in charge and the senior head below him!

Im sure Brenton will have his people/mentor he gets advice on stuff from around him (not in an offical capacity).


Harvey as a general assistant in a year possibly, but he wont coach this year! To messy and to short turn around. Id say Harvey will end up a senior coach again at some stage. Eade... well no interest for me!

Footy Smart wrote:Bickley and hart were the only asst coaches out of contract. Rest remain to date

All positions should be declared vacant with a new Senior Coach being appointed. Sanderson should have the full and final say on who he wants to be Assistant Coach at the club, its his game plan that he is bringing to the club and its his right to have the people that he thinks are the best to do the job. Not to say that the existing staff should not be able to re apply for those positions and make thier case accordingly.

Soj, then you create a tenure problem for anyone who is an assistant coach. They may sign a 3 year contract but then it would be null and void if the senior coach changes. You'd find it harder to attract good assistants if you can't offer then some guarantees that the contract they sign will be honoured.

Also, someone like Sanderson has only worked recently with the group of coaches at Geelong and he's not going to be able to bring them all over with him so to some extent he has to work with what is already there. That's not to say a hard call should be avoided but one of the skills a senior coach needs is being able to get the best out of his assistants even if he hasn't worked with them before.

Milburn has been sounded out as the Defensive coach for next season.

Footy Smart wrote:Milburn has been sounded out as the Defensive coach for next season.

I like the sound of that. Long, successful career, tough and uncompromising. Just what we need.

Hondo wrote:Soj, then you create a tenure problem for anyone who is an assistant coach. They may sign a 3 year contract but then it would be null and void if the senior coach changes. You'd find it harder to attract good assistants if you can't offer then some guarantees that the contract they sign will be honoured.

Also, someone like Sanderson has only worked recently with the group of coaches at Geelong and he's not going to be able to bring them all over with him so to some extent he has to work with what is already there. That's not to say a hard call should be avoided but one of the skills a senior coach needs is being able to get the best out of his assistants even if he hasn't worked with them before.

I understand where you are going re Tenure, yet its about making sure that the club has the absolute best staff for the task at hand. If Sanderson just continues Craigs game plan its my thought that we will get nowhere, yet Sanderson has already made several references to the media as to what he requires of this list moving forward. The previous group of Assistants were Craigs Assistants and were there to teach his game plan to the players, although there are exceptions in the main I dont think its unreasonable that Sanderson be given the capacity to have the coaches he wants to teach his game plan to the list. I would very much hope that the board of the AFC would not be as stupid as to attempt to direct Sanderson in the coaching of the club. If it goes wrong Sanderson alone has to be judged on it, not the board or the Assistant staff, it follows that Sanderson should then have the final say on what happens.

I think Bickley has demonstrated that he was not totally committed to the Neil Craig style, which he modified immediately.
So, he is likely to be able to contribute to teaching what he is skilled at inside the Sanderson style.
Sanderson may, however, need to move on, or re-educate, any entrenched Craigist disciples who remain - if any do.

Soj, I understand your point but you seem to be suggesting that an assistant coach can only ever work with the one overall plan, that being one that they used with one particular senior coach (in this case Neil Craig). There may be some truth to this and it may run deeper in some assistants than others but it's their job to work with whatever plan the senior coach sets up. I don't see how an assistant from the Crows under Craig is any more ingrained in one method than say an existing assistant at North Melbourne.

All that said, I don't want to see every single assistant remain unchanged from last year but the key change is the senior coach. The senior coach has to be able to manage and cut through all the history. That's their job. His assistants work with his plan not Neil Craig's. Besides, every year assistant coaches move around a fair bit so it's a lucky senior coach that has exactly the assistants he would ideally want. Your best guys like Sanderson leave for senior jobs!

Chris McDermott assesses the assistants quite well in the Mail today. Suggests Ben Hart should go after a gig at Collingwood, Campo & Clarke to stay, & 2 new to come on board.

According to peter walsh, Rodney Edae will either Join Collingnwood or Adelaide and a decision will be made in the next couple of days.

On the back page of the Advertiser today( 30 september 2011) according to Rucci. Darren Milburn will be Joining the crows coaching panel next year.