Imagine you’re an ex-player looking to transition to coaching, or an assistant coach looking to make a bid for a top job somewhere in the near future. You’re reasonably hot property, so you have some choice about where you land. How would you decide where to ply your craft?
If it was me, I’d probably want to go to a team that has a chance to win a premiership. It looks good to be part of a premiership culture, and other teams are always looking to steal coaching IP from successful clubs. I’d probably want to join a coaching staff with some highly regarded names, so I could learn from them. I’d probably want to go to a Melbourne club, because you get more opportunity to rub shoulders with footy powerbrokers, and no-one likes flying every second week. I’d probably want to go to a bigger club, as they have more resources and more cache around the league.
Right now, my list of preferred clubs, in rough order, would be:
1. Richmond
2. Collingwood
3. Hawthorn
4. Essendon
5. Geelong
6. Sydney
7. Adelaide
8. Melbourne
9. North
10. Port Adelaide
11. GWS
12. Western Bulldogs
13. St Kilda
14. Carlton
15. Fremantle
16. Brisbane
17. Gold Coast
18. West Coast
For mine, Freo would be a bottom 5 club. If other people feel that way - and I can’t see a reason they wouldn’t - I’m not surprised we don’t get the pick of the assistants.