{"id":705003,"date":"2026-05-30T20:55:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-30T20:55:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/705003\/"},"modified":"2026-05-30T20:55:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-30T20:55:17","slug":"afl-coaching-appointments-how-clubs-use-subcommittees-to-find-the-next-senior-coach-and-avoid-failure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/705003\/","title":{"rendered":"AFL coaching appointments: How clubs use subcommittees to find the next senior coach and avoid failure"},"content":{"rendered":"

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David Noble had long left the Brisbane Lions when they won back-to-back premierships. Same with Peter Schwab. Neil Balme had been out of Geelong for eight years for their last flag. Their contributions to those clubs are still being felt today.<\/p>\n

Noble, Schwab and Balme are among the 150 to 200 industry figures since the turn of the century who have been on subcommittees tasked with the job of finding senior coaches. Their role is one of the most important for a club, capable of setting them up for a dynasty, or failure.<\/p>\n

This masthead has compiled each club\u2019s subcommittees, stretching back to the start of the expansion era in 2011, to find those with the best records in unearthing successful coaches \u2013 and their tips to pick the right candidates.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

We have not limited success to just winning premierships. Coaches who have taken their sides to a grand final or multiple preliminary final appearances and have longevity can also be considered as having enjoyed prosperous tenures, even if they did not achieve the ultimate.<\/p>\n

Coaching subcommittees typically consist of the chief executive, football manager and a board member \u2013 usually, but not always, the football director. Most also include a respected external figure \u2013 sometimes from another sport \u2013 and a non-football person with experience in psychology, leadership or recruitment.<\/p>\n

\"AngeAnge Postecoglou.Getty Images<\/p>\n

The net has been cast wide. Former Tottenham and Socceroos boss Ange Postecoglou (Brendon Bolton at Carlton), former Hockeyroo and Olympian Danni Roche (Alan Richardson at St Kilda) and netball international Simone McKinnis (Brad Scott at Essendon) have all been involved.<\/p>\n

Just as being a champion footballer does not lead to success in the box, being a premiership coach does not necessarily transfer to identifying coaching talent. Four-time flag winner Leigh Matthews, the late Robert Walls<\/a>, Paul Roos and David Parkin all had misses.<\/p>\n

Walls, though, backed in an untried Ross Lyon at St Kilda, Roos helped Melbourne find Simon Goodwin in his Kirribilli agreement, and Parkin was involved in the selection of Ken Hinkley<\/a>, who led Port Adelaide to four preliminary finals in his 13 years at the helm.<\/p>\n

Of the six serving coaches to have lifted the cup, only one \u2013 Luke Beveridge \u2013 was chosen by a premiership coach, John Worsfold. Some of the figures with the best records in finding coaches did not lead their teams to glory.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Adam<\/a><\/p>\n

Noble, a former football boss at Adelaide and Brisbane, has arguably had the most success. He oversaw the process in 2017 that delivered Chris Fagan to the Lions. Before that, he recommended Don Pyke and the late Phil Walsh to the Crows.<\/p>\n

Schwab was on Noble\u2019s panel at the Lions, and also gave the nod to Hinkley, but also featured in the selection of the late Dean Bailey<\/a> and Justin Leppitsch at Melbourne and the Lions respectively, neither of whom led their teams to finals.<\/p>\n

Balme was part of a six-person panel that took a chance on the then untried Chris Scott, a dual-premiership winner as coach who is equal 10th for most games won.<\/p>\n

Carlton\u2019s four-person panel, announced on Thursday<\/a>, includes chief executive Graham Wright, who approached Sam Mitchell in 2021<\/a> to coach Collingwood and then presided over the appointment of Craig McRae.<\/p>\n

Untried v Experience<\/p>\n

While the competition is trending towards the first-timer, rarely has there been the calibre of coach like John Longmire and Adam Simpson available<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The data points to the untried. Since 2004, only Mick Malthouse, in 2010 with Collingwood, has won a flag with a club that was not his first. Of the 60 preliminary finalists since 2011, only four were coached by men at a second club \u2013 Malthouse (2011), Lyon (Fremantle 2013 and 2015) and Michael Voss<\/a> (Carlton 2023).<\/p>\n

\"Collingwood\u2019sCollingwood\u2019s 2010 premiership team.Paul Rovere<\/p>\n

Balme is neither here nor there on the matter. What he wants to see is all candidates being put through the process, regardless of senior experience, so a club can learn as much as they can about a contender. A coach who thrived at one club may not be as well suited in a different environment.<\/p>\n

Longmire, for example, has coached exclusively in the non-traditional market of Sydney \u2013 who, unlike Carlton and Essendon, do not have long-suffering supporter bases prepared to vent in large numbers when things go awry.<\/p>\n

\"JohnJohn Longmire (pictured) took over from Paul Roos at Sydney. Both won premierships at the Swans, with Dean Cox now looking to do the same. Dominic Lorrimer<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve got to treat them exactly the same,\u201d Balme said. \u201cYour club is different to where they were. You have to look at that and know what you need compared to what they\u2019ve done elsewhere.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t know what motivates a coach who has coached somewhere for 20 years and wants your job now. Does he want it to say he\u2019s still a coach? Does he want it to make a million bucks a year? Does he really care if your club goes somewhere in the next five years?<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only way you can ask him that is to go through a process to make sure he\u2019s the man for the job.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t see why anyone would complain about that. If they really want the job, you\u2019d just go through the process, I\u2019d have thought.\u201d<\/p>\n

The tactician v the relationship builder<\/p>\n

Ideally, a coach is strong in both areas but, if one has to be prioritised over another, which trait is more important?<\/p>\n

In Fagan, the Lions found a father-figure type who may not have been as highly regarded tactically as his predecessor Leppitsch but had the personality traits needed for a rebuilding club desperate to avoid a repeat of the \u201cgo home five\u201d exodus in 2013<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"DavidDavid Noble isn\u2019t a premiership coach, but he knows how to help pick them.AFL Photos<\/p>\n

At Carlton, Voss was loved by his players and staff, but widely criticised externally for not moving the Blues from a contest-heavy game plan to the turnover-based style of 2026.<\/p>\n

One school of thought is that the head coach must be tactically strong, so he can give his assistants direction. Balme came through an era where the coach needed to be an expert in strategy, but says that is no longer as important. A well-rounded coaching panel can complement the head coach, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cNowadays when you have a coaching group, it\u2019s a balance of what you\u2019ve got,\u201d Balme said. \u201cI think it\u2019s more important to have that connection. Having said that, you still need the expert strategy somewhere, but you might rely on one of your other coaches to help you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schwab, too, leans towards the coach with strong emotional intelligence.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you can\u2019t connect with your players, you won\u2019t survive,\u201d Schwab said. \u201cYou can\u2019t just be a tactical genius. You can get the tactical nous in. If you\u2019re missing an area as a coach, what\u2019s the area they\u2019re lacking, and let\u2019s bring in that support.\u201d<\/p>\n

Know what you need<\/p>\n

The Blues and Bombers have churned through just about every type of coaching profile without becoming a regular contender or, in Essendon\u2019s case, winning a final.<\/p>\n

They have tried the Messiah\/premiership coach (Denis Pagan, Mick Malthouse and John Worsfold), the untried outsider (Brendon Bolton, Ben Rutten and Matthew Knights), the favourite son (Brett Ratten and James Hird), the interim (Ratten and David Teague) and the experienced coach from another club (Michael Voss and Brad Scott).<\/p>\n

\"FormerFormer Carlton coach David Teague.AFL Photos<\/p>\n

Though it\u2019s natural to want to avoid making the same mistake twice and overcorrecting, Noble and Balme both said each appointment should be treated on its merits. If a subcommittee knows what it wants, they said, it reduces the likelihood of their view being clouded by history.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe critical thing was the assessment on the environment,\u201d Noble said. \u201cAre you clear on the understanding of what that looks like, how it\u2019s performing? There are lots of environmental measures that you\u2019re looking at.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cHave you got a mature group? Is the club moving to a phase of drafting? How far away from success do you think you are? What are the type of behaviours experienced that the coach will need to lean into when they come in?\u201d<\/p>\n

Balme said the past should not influence clubs.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt gets back to sitting down and working out what you need, a bit of what you don\u2019t need, and judge that independently of what you\u2019ve done before,\u201d Balme said.<\/p>\n

Noble\u2019s mock coaching exercise<\/p>\n

The \u201c16 to 17\u201d applicants the Lions had in 2016, Noble said, were whittled down to a shortlist of four, then three after Ratten\u2019s withdrawal.<\/p>\n

Panellists were required to complete a detailed, weighted assessment on each candidate on areas such as match day ability, relationship and culture building, and leadership, Noble said.<\/p>\n

\"CraigCraig McRae with Noble after their sides battled it out in 2022.AFL Photos<\/p>\n

In his processes, Noble showed applicants video of a quarter from that club\u2019s game that year and asked them to pretend to be the coach. The candidate could use the panellists as assistants or the runner to simulate how a game situation would be managed.<\/p>\n

The point of the exercise was to test how a prospective coach would respond in real time, rather than through a presentation.<\/p>\n

Editor’s pick\"James<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cMy thought was how do we find a way where we can add some pressure in the interview where it will give us some legitimacy on what we\u2019re likely to get, so the coach doesn\u2019t walk in through the door, and we get something different from the interview,\u201d Noble said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe did the same with Walshy, Don, and Fages. Here\u2019s some vision, you\u2019re the coach, please show us how you\u2019re going to coach through this portion of the game, and what we\u2019re likely to get in the outcome of that.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t tell them before they come. It\u2019s fairly cold. We\u2019ll give you a couple of minutes to prepare. How do you want to set that up? Are we going to be line coaches?<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat are you seeing? What are your instructions to a player through a runner? What are you looking at?<\/p>\n

\u201cAs far as stats, how are you calibrating the information that you\u2019re subjectively seeing with the data that is coming through? Those sorts of areas around those behaviours that you\u2019re more likely to see in reality, rather than in a presentation.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

As much as he knew the skills and traits required to succeed as coach, Noble\u2019s own coaching career was ill-fated, winning just five of 38 games with North Melbourne.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s totally different,\u201d Noble laughed of the skill transferral. \u201cSitting in the chair brings with you a whole new level of experiences.<\/p>\n

\u201cUntil you get in it, it\u2019s like talking to a first-game player. You can try to tell them what it\u2019s likely to be, but you don\u2019t get that experience until you\u2019re in the hot seat.\u201d<\/p>\n

Process matters, doesn\u2019t it?Editor’s pick\"There<\/a><\/p>\n

The Swans have not gone to market with their coach this century, yet they\u2019ve still been one of the competition\u2019s modern powerhouses.<\/p>\n

Since 2010, Longmire is the only premiership coach not to have gone through the conventional selection process. Goodwin, like Longmire, was installed as part of a succession plan, though he was put through a process run by the then Melbourne CEO Peter Jackson with Todd Viney, Josh Mahoney and Roos. Gold Coast, St Kilda and North Melbourne headhunted their current coaches and thus must overcome the odds with Damien Hardwick, Lyon or Alastair Clarkson respectively.<\/p>\n

Noble is a big believer in running a thorough process. In his recruitments, he required panellists to write detailed reports marking each candidate against the criteria and why. On each occasion, he said, there was little debate required to finalise their selection.<\/p>\n

\"NeilNeil Balme remains one of the most respected voices in the AFL industry.Jason South<\/p>\n

\u201cThe process dismantles the element of luck for me,\u201d Noble said. \u201cIt deflects from the thinking, \u2018This guy has been around for a long period; therefore he must be a good coach\u2019. The luck diminishes the stronger your process is.\u201d<\/p>\n

By parting ways with their coaches in May, Carlton and Essendon have plenty of time. There is no need to rush.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a huge job, a very significant job,\u201d Balme said. \u201cFooty clubs have a responsibility to fans, community and the game, itself. It\u2019s a very important decision. It\u2019s certainly worth spending a lot of time doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Keep up to date with the best AFL coverage in the country. Sign up for the Real Footy newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":705004,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-705003","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/705003","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=705003"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/705003\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/705004"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=705003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=705003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=705003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}