They backed him, then sacked him. But could Gold Coast Suns have kept faith in coach Stuart Dew, as Carlton did Michael Voss to reap the rewards?Coach sackings are rarely edifying affairs but every now and then – Collingwood and Nathan Buckley spring to mind – they’re handled with a modicum of class and decency. Yet they’re almost always acrimonious. Stuart Dew’s sacking felt particularly grubby. It was a dog’s breakfast, really. He was made to look like a mug. They backed him, then sacked him.The press release announcing his departure was farcical, even by footy departure standards. It made him sound like he’d just passed away. Footy coaches aren’t building orphanages or splitting atoms, but they’re entitled to some...
This year offered West Coast a chance to reset. But two consecutive floggings and the biggest losing margin in their history have the Eagles in a tailspinChapter 12 of Stephen King’s Misery ends with the line: “Then the rain came and things changed.” In King’s book, the weather turned, Annie Wilkes’ mood darkened, and Paul Sheldon forfeited his foot. When the rain came for the West Coast Eagles in 2019, they kept their legs, but lost the double chance. Since that day, pretty much nothing has gone right.It was round 22 - Richmond at the MCG. One of the great games of the pre-Covid era. In the first term, the Eagles played almost perfect football – the clean, crisp, kick-and-catch...
After another terrible loss, Carlton is a club in tatters with the coach, captain and CEO staring down the barrel of frustrated fans and angry “assassins”When Brian Cook was CEO of Geelong, he had a folder on his computer for all the vicious emails he received from fans, coterie groups, and board members. He labelled it “Assassins”.It’s easy to forget just how dire things were at the Cats when he took over. The coach and captain walked out. The team was useless and the club had no money. Garry Hocking was forced to change his name by deed poll to ‘Whiskas’ to rustle up 100 grand. “The organisation had no structures, no layers,” Cook told writer James Button. “It was...
There’s no need to bemoan a sport gone soft, just reflect on what it means to an Indigenous footballerRichmond supporters will be waiting for Tom Stewart on Friday night. It’s been coming for nine months. He’ll be booed as vociferously as a footballer can be these days. He’s fair game, apparently. He’s a magnificent footballer and a big boy. He rearranged Dion Prestia’s face, and now it’s payback time. “Good, clean fandom,” broadcaster Gerard Whateley called it this week.But what happened at the MCG last Sunday was more complicated than good, clean fandom. It was a particularly spiteful beginning to the Magpies v Swans game and the Collingwood crowd was riled up. At first, the booing of Lance Franklin seemed...
The rise of Geelong and Collingwood proves the game has changed since Richmond’s premiership years. Can the Tigers evolve to find success again? “As a football club, I reckon we fail well,” Richmond CEO Brendan Gale said in the lead up to Saturday’s clash with West Coast.He’d just been pipped for football’s top job by the company man. His team couldn’t take a trick. His coach was cranky. Half his list was sidelined. Against Gold Coast, at a ground they hate, against a team that always brings out the worst in them, they looked tired, confused and frustrated. They gave away 50 metre penalties, flubbed kicks across goal, and sprayed easy sets shots. They’d addressed their deficiencies, but completely regressed...