Favourite Coach and Favourite Opposition Coach?

Through the time that you have been involved with the SANFL, who has been you favourite coach at your own club, and who has been your favourite / most respected coach at an opposition club?

For my own club its easily John Reid. He had a very old school coaching style and used to fire up very well at the 1/4 & 3/4 time breaks he did the best with South that any other coach has since.

For the opposition clubs, its easily Neil Kerley, not only at West, but wherever he went, my Granddad knew him well and had plenty of stories to tell about his days at West when Granddad helped out as a Masseuse for the club and Kerley was coach! Interestingly of the more modern coaches I thought Michael Flynn in his short time at the NAFC had some pretty revolutionary ideas in terms of training and game style, clearly North didnt agree though and he was gone after just the one season!

Only remember Jack Oatey's last couple of years so at Sturt hard to split Phil Carman and Brenton Phillips.

Opposition: Quite a few, Peter Jonas, Neil Balme, John Reid and I'd kind of like to say Matthew Knights just because.

My 'favourites':
At West (during my time of following the club):
Andy Collins
Ian Borchard
Michael Taylor

Opposition:
Roy Laird
Jack Cahill
Alistair Clarkson

Roy Laird and Ron Fuller

Opposition:

Michael Godden.

Mark Mickan

Luke Norman

Jack Oatey - coached West before going to Sturt

Fos Williams - played for West before going to Port.

etc, etc.

On a serious note, I've been lucky to see up close some of the following:

Neil Kerley
Graham Cornes
John Cahill
Mike Nunan
Alistair Clarkson
All West coaches since 1989.

Several AFL coaches including Alan Joyce, Tim Watson, Leigh Matthews and others.

The upside of being a volunteer.

opposition

john cahill
jack oatey
neil kerley

favourite

neil kerley
foster williams

Am very fortunate in getting to hear many of the coaches many times a year at close proximity as well as post-game in the rooms.

All of them have excellent points to them. Personally, I always like listening to Roy Laird, because the message is not overly technical, not all "AFL'd out" and not full of jargon, and the players respond accordingly. Michael Godden and Ron Fuller also have similar philosophies and Fuller, in particular, makes excellent use of his assistant coaches during the breaks in communicating with the players.

Tony Bamford is one who doesn't seem to get mentioned often, but he is direct with his players - he delivered the single best spray I've ever heard in over 35 years of going to SANFL, at Prospect two years back. Would have been easily audible at the back of the grandstand and had the desired effect. Unfortunately, very little of it can be repeated here, but a line about "standing back and waiting for their (North's) autographs" did make me chuckle for a long time. All of that aside, wears his heart on his sleeve and gives a very good impression among the coaches.

I always liked Neil Balme as a leader of the club, always approachable, always interesting to talk with, but I never felt he achieved what he should have with the players Norwood had through the 1980s. So Balmey is my most popular, but in terms of getting the most out of a team, Bob Hammond would be the one. Peter Rhode also did a great job at Norwood.

Favourite opposition coach, possibly Neil Kerley. He injected a lot of interest into the competition by taking various clubs from cellar dwellers to premiers or at least competitive units. His Glenelg 1973 and West Adelaide 1983 teams were spectacular. Unfortunately for him, and the clubs, he wasn't able to sustain premiership success.

Neil Balme is a good one to discuss, AH. He was one of the most left-field coaching appointments ever by Norwood, yet he took us to the 2 early flags. My grandfather, who had been a life long Norwood man and sadly passed away weeks before the 1982 flag, was very unsure of Balme as a coach initially, but realised he was what the club needed, and it's fair to say we were so far ahead of Glenelg in 1982, that it almost made for a dull Grand Final. The match was a foregone result very early that day, partially due to the bruising Glenelg had copped the week before.

I think it's fair to say, however, that yes, he didn't get the best out of the group and I believe that some senior players felt toward the end of his time that he had become soft in his ways and almost too close to the players to be able to make some of the tough calls that needed to be made, if the club was to achieve its full potential.

I was fortunate enough to be at Richmond Oval for one of the games he played for the club (I think he played 13 in total, and I would have been there for most of them, but clearly remember this game in particular). It was apparent that physically he was nearly completely spent, but his menace was still very hard to West to contain, in terms of his psychological impact on the field.

As far as left-field coaching methods are concerned, it's difficult to go past Malcolm Blight's reign at Woodville, particularly his opening two years. Arrived, chopped many players who he felt weren't up to it (and I can't think of any he chopped that came back to bite him at other clubs), had some brutal training methods (including the infamous 3/4 time training drill on the oval - against Port, possibly?) and could be more brutal with the players, but reaped the results and turned a club that was a basket case into a respected group that really should have played off in a Grand Final in 1986, but for a lack of belief for 30 minutes in the Preliminary Final.

I'm curious - who did Blight chop from Woodville?

It doesnt surprise me at all given what he did at the Crows - and wanted to do at Saint Kilda with Harvey - but my memory isn't quite strong enough re his Woodville coaching days as to he got rid of.

Perhaps Max Parker was one? Did his move to North coincide with Blight?

John Roberts?

Jon Sampson from Port who I think was from Woodville originally.

Some 30 odd players so the story has grown too over the years Footy Follower!

C.K wrote:Neil Balme is a good one to discuss, AH. He was one of the most left-field coaching appointments ever by Norwood, yet he took us to the 2 early flags. My grandfather, who had been a life long Norwood man and sadly passed away weeks before the 1982 flag, was very unsure of Balme as a coach initially, but realised he was what the club needed, and it's fair to say we were so far ahead of Glenelg in 1982, that it almost made for a dull Grand Final. The match was a foregone result very early that day, partially due to the bruising Glenelg had copped the week before.

Not sure which appointment was the most left-field, Neil Balme or a 19 year old Haydn Bunton. We've tended to think outside the square at times for coaches at Norwood. In the first few seasons of Neil Balme we thought we had another Jack Oatey in terms of bringing players to their peak when it mattered most. We came from nowhere in 1980 to narrowly lose to Port, came home strongly in 1981 & 1982 ... our second half of 1982 was sensational ... and of course, the history making 5th to top in 1984. Funnily enough, the best minor round we had was possibly 1983, and yet we failed in the finals.

After that, we just lost ground and never recovered. Even though we kept finishing 3rd, we were a long way from top, and as you say, there definitely was a very comfortable feeling around Norwood at that time, not desperate enough for flags like some other clubs.

Our problem in 1983 was the small matter of a team I still view as one of the best I've seen in SANFL, and that was the West Adelaide 1983 team. Nobody got even close to them in finals, they were just in another league that year.

I know at the time, eyebrows were raised at the appointment of Dale Lewis as coach in 2005, but I thought it proved reasonable - in parts - for the club. Some parts, however, were a little problematic.

Not SANFL, but I was lucky enough to catch a game or two when Larry Watson (brother of Tim and dad of Luke and the late Jake) was coaching juniors in the Hills Football League. Very inspiring, realistic, knowledgeable, honest and sincere and was much respected. Unfortunately various circumstances meant he never coached at senior level, but he could have taken a SANFL team to the top.

Yes, db, and a wonderful bloke, too.

C.K wrote:Our problem in 1983 was the small matter of a team I still view as one of the best I've seen in SANFL, and that was the West Adelaide 1983 team. Nobody got even close to them in finals, they were just in another league that year.

I know at the time, eyebrows were raised at the appointment of Dale Lewis as coach in 2005, but I thought it proved reasonable - in parts - for the club. Some parts, however, were a little problematic.

West Adelaide were indeed a wonderful team in 1983. With Norwood's performance I was directing my attention to how our performance tapered that season, rather than built up for the finals as it had in other seasons. The Blues were too good for us as well that season, not just West.

Norwood's starts to 1980, 82 & 84 were as poor as you could imagine, and yet we made grand finals those years. 1981 saw us also start slowly, do the usual run home to the finals, but went down in a PF where we kicked into the wind for 3 quarters. In 1983 we put early wins on the board, but fell apart in the finals.

I get the feeling that Dale Lewis was taken by surprise by the standard of the SANFL. I think he looked at his Norwood players, thought they were as good as it gets in this league, but when the season started, he got a rude awakening. That's what we get for appointing coaches on name, rather than genuine coaching talent.

FOOTYfollower wrote:I'm curious - who did Blight chop from Woodville?

It doesnt surprise me at all given what he did at the Crows - and wanted to do at Saint Kilda with Harvey - but my memory isn't quite strong enough re his Woodville coaching days as to he got rid of.

Perhaps Max Parker was one? Did his move to North coincide with Blight?

John Roberts?

Jon Sampson from Port who I think was from Woodville originally.

From memory the biggest two "scalps" were Huppatz and Hewitt. Also Trevor Pierson and John Roberts amongst others. Max Parker actually left because the board appointed Ebert as coach and he felt after the last couple of years the club was finally building a tradition and he thought the new coach should be a Woodville man. Who the hell he had in mind I have no idea.

Huppatz went to Port Adelaide in 1982. Glynn Hewitt went to South Adelaide in 1982. Dayl Hewitt played for St.Kilda in 1981-82, then joined his brother at South in 1983. Blight didn't return to Woodville until 1983.

Adelaide Hawk wrote:Huppatz went to Port Adelaide in 1982. Glynn Hewitt went to South Adelaide in 1982. Dayl Hewitt played for St.Kilda in 1981-82, then joined his brother at South in 1983. Blight didn't return to Woodville until 1983.

Christ my memory is bad. I remember the article in the News and now that you say it It was 1982. So that was Olssen's clean out. One win would suggest it didn't pay divedends.

The Rod Olsson days still send involuntary shivers through people that I've chatted to over the years, that were at the club at the time. Most of them say along the same lines. He tried to impose things that were clearly well above the club's means at the times (not financially, but physical means of players etc), such as a full scale gym, video analysis of games and trying to ban alcohol for the players.

For players that were very much part-time, it was just too big a culture shock for both them and the board, by all reports.

Don Scott and South Adelaide shared the same problem I believe.

So they were ahead of their time, by SANFL standards?

It's amazing how nowadays it's the norm to be off booze, work out in a gym and analyse the opposition by video. You could almost say they are 3 'fundamentals' of the game!

C.K wrote:The Rod Olsson days still send involuntary shivers through people that I've chatted to over the years, that were at the club at the time. Most of them say along the same lines. He tried to impose things that were clearly well above the club's means at the times (not financially, but physical means of players etc), such as a full scale gym, video analysis of games and trying to ban alcohol for the players.

For players that were very much part-time, it was just too big a culture shock for both them and the board, by all reports.

Don't mention Olsson around McAlmanac!! I think he is STILL in therapy.