There has been a lot of discussion on here about whether Lyon is a good coach, and whether he is the man to oversee a rebuild of the team (if those things are different). The contract offered from Docker HQ suggests he is highly rated there, but there is no shortage of vocal critics on Dockerland. I personally find coaching very hard to evaluate, because unlike players you can never see their performance directly; rather you need to infer it from the performance of the players on the field. So, in assessing the coach, you need to first make an assessment of how much they have achieved with the team at their disposal, which is an incredibly subjective exercise in itself.
Also, there is no guarantee that a coach's replacement will be better than Lyon. If you considered Lyon to be a middle-of-the-road coach, there is a 50% chance his replacement will be worse. Most new coaches are untried head coaches so they are hard to assess, but what about the current cohort of league coaches? Which of them do you consider would do better with our current Freo squad than Lyon?
Coaches can’t be traded, but it got me to thinking about who I would trade Lyon for out of the current crop of coaches. I’ve ranked the coaches based on a hypothetical (and vaguely ridiculous) situation where the President of another club called Docker HQ with a deal for a straight-swap for coaches.
"Start the car"
Alastair Clarkson – probably has cemented his place as the best coach in the game with Hawthorn’s premiership run, and 10 wins in a transition year last year was a solid result.
I want to say yes, but let me sleep on it
Chris Scott – took the Cats to a flag when people thought they were done, and has overseen a pretty successful restump at Geelong. Has some history at Freo. Misses out on Start the Car status for his theatrical reactions in the box, which in the grand scheme of things is a pretty minor flaw.
John Longmire – He has won a premiership and his teams have consistently been successful, but I can’t help but think some of that can be attributed to Sydney’s excellent academy picks and free agent acquisitions assisted by the COLA.
On the fence
Ken Hinkley – Gets points for getting Port to play an attacking style of footy, but has copped a lot of grief internally and from Port fans for consistently underachieving against the top teams and in finals. I suspect we’ll know a lot more about Hinkley after this year having been given the keys to a stacked team. I’d have him a hair above Lyon, but mostly based on aesthetics of game style.
Luke Beveridge – He took the Footsdogs to a flag, and seems like a cool guy, but if you take 4 weeks of inspired football out of the equation, has he been a better coach than Lyon? I’d say no. Lyon got Freo to consistent top 4 finishes whereas the Footsdogs have never cracked the top 4. Had Freo played anyone other than Hawthorn in the 2013 GF Lyon would have a flag, so if that’s the only difference it’s a tough call.
Damien Hardwick – Similar to Beveridge, nothing about Hardwick’s coaching career screams to me that he’s an elite coach, but he did get his team a flag. Could he do that at Freo without 16 games at home and a cushy home ground run in the finals? Maybe, maybe not. I can’t say for sure he’s a better coach than Lyon so I would probably stand pat.
Don Pyke – Has got his team to a GF where, like Freo, they fell flat against the home team. His teams score a lot more than Freo ever has, but has probably had a more balanced list, with plenty of forward options. I’d want to see another season or two from Pyke before pulling the trigger.
"Umm, thanks, but no thanks"
John Worsfold – honest plonker at best. Dishonest plonker at worst.
Simon Goodwin – nothing in this bloke’s history screams ‘good guy’, and nothing about Melbourne’s performances to date suggest he’s any better than Lyon.
Adam Simpson – Chickengate aside, he seems like a good guy and the players seem to relate to him, but I can’t see much in his coaching career to suggest he’s a top-flight coach.
*Hangs up phone*
Brad Scott – the Whingeboner in Chief never misses an opportunity to complain. Tough gig coaching North, but isn’t very highly rated by North fans I know.
Nathan Buckley – if he was anyone other than Nathan Buckley he would have been gone years ago.
Leon Cameron – An U18s coach at the helm of one of the most talented squads ever put together. Perhaps he gets judged harshly for the growing pains of a team of budding superstars, but I can’t say he’d be in my first 10 or 20 choices to coach a Freo team currently with much less talent.
Alan Richardson – Tough gig coaching the rebuilding Saints, but it doesn’t look like they are going anywhere.
"Can you please call again in a couple of years?"
Chris Fagan
Brendan Bolton
Stewart Dew
So, I’d probably pull the trigger on a trade for 4-5 other coaches. Given our relative status in the league, I reckon we could do worse.
