The {R} is there to cover for the Crows' result against the Western Bulldogs yesterday, but Gary Ayres, the former Hawthorn champion and one-time Geelong coach before moving over to South Australia, is out as the coach of the Adelaide Crows. Ayres out -- afl.com.au Neil Craig will coach the team for the remainder of the season.
Ayres has been a dead man walking since the 0-4 start to the season. I believe this is the start of a major clean out at the Crows. Carey and Burns at least on the field, perhaps coaching and recruiting staff to suffer the broom too. Leading candidates for the Job: Terry "Plough" Wallace - Formerly of the Bulldogs, now in the media. Peter Jonas - Asst Coach to Paul Roos in Sydney. Coached Central Districts (SANFL) to the 2000 flag and was the SANFL youth development coach. Gary O'Donnell - Asst Coach to Leigh Matthews in Brisbane. I think the AFC board will go for Plough, but I'd like to see Jonas get the gig. I think we need a coach who can nurture the youngsters, take charge at the draft/recruiting side of things and build the club for the future. It'd be a punt going for an unproven coach at this level, but he's not a numpty (SANFL Flag etc) and I think he's got a lot to offer.
And opens the way for Ayres to return to Hawthorn when Peter Schwab is sacked at Glenferrie...though I would have guessed the sequence would have gone in the opposite order.
I think I forecast that possibility a few weeks ago. And I'm still guessing that it would be a likely scenario. Terry Wallace would seem like the most likely candidate to take over in the Crows' nest, but Mike Sheahan reported in the Herald Sun about a fortnight ago that Wallace appeared to be in line for a top administrative position at Fox Footy Channel, but now it seems that Wallace has had a change of heart in light with what's happened in the last 24 hours. Yet I've heard through the media that there are some rumblings about the perceived preference to have a South Australian coaching the Crows (maybe Capt. Socceroo can confirm or deny this?)... In that light, maybe Neil Craig can be seen to coach the team with a view for gaining the job on a full-time basis for next season? I think that there might be a bit of player power to have to say about this, in the same way that Paul Roos managed to become Sydney's coach a couple of years ago. Also, one other thought... the AFL has seen a period of a couple of years without a coaching change at any of its member clubs, certainly a bit of a fluke or an abherration in the world of professional sport. And now that Ayres has left Adelaide, might we see a domino effect take place? The futures of Peter Schwab at Hawthorn and Danny Frawley at Richmond are both running on fumes at the moment, and who knows how many other coaches, depending on how the results of the second half of the season bear out, might find their futures on a knife's edge as well.
Other articles in the aftermath of this news... Ayres feels betrayed by Crows sacking -- The Herald Sun Craig has nine weeks -- The Herald Sun Ayres availability adds to Glenferrie intrigue -- Mile Sheahan column in the Herald Sun New coach given nine 'lives' -- The Age Blood-letting begins -- Greg Baum column in The Age Crows failed to look to future -- Rohan Connolly column in The Age The candidates -- The Age For Craig, it's not all about wins and losses -- Adelaide Advertiser May 20: The day the board lost its faith -- Adelaide Advertiser Great player, not quite a great coach -- Adelaide Advertiser Fears Crows young guns will be raided -- Adelaide Advertiser
Credit where credit's due...you did plant the idea, even though I've been tipping "Libba" as Schwab's replacement. Did I miss out on some news there, though? I thought Libba was doing an apprenticeship at Box Hill, but I thought I read he was brought up to Hawthorn as an assistant. What am I missing?
Not sure, but I'm sure our other Hawthorn and VFL sources can fill us in. On that latter note, I can ask one of my mates that I work with later in the week... he covers North Ballarat for the paper, and with the Roosters having played Box Hill a couple of weeks ago, maybe he's got some insights to share with me on the matter. In any event, I'll ask him, and report back.
I'm not surprised Gary Ayres has been given the flick from Adelaide, he achieved nothing while he was there. Actually that's not quite true... he's managed to take a club who'd won 2 of the previous 3 Premierships and left them with barely anything on their playing list apart from a bunch of old blokes who are good players but near the ends of their careers and a bunch of young blokes who aren't up to it. This is not something new for Gary Ayres, who left Geelong in a similar state after the end of 1999. He came to both clubs on the back of their previous coach, (both times Malcolm Blight) and tried to get success from the players already there... never going to work. I hope he ends up at Hawthorn as he can stuff up his own club!
My, how bitter... But this situation would be a 180-degree turn for Ayres. He'd be inheriting a club that has gone from one kick away from a Grand Final in 2001 to a certain wooden spoon just 3 years later. It can't get any worse for Hawthorn...can it?
Well, you'll always have the dills ringing 5AA complaining that the reason Ayres failed was that he was Victorian....these people are still moaning about the F1GP and seeing vic conspiracies everywhere. The AFC will appoint the best person for the job (in their opinion). Where he is from is of no concern to most Crows fans.....just as long as we move forwards, the quicker the better. I personally dont see the reason why Wallace is the front runner. IMHO he never did much @ the Bulldogs, and his recruiting was suspect, esp in the KPP market. I think we would be heading down the Robert Shaw path if we appointed Plough. For simillar reasons I am appathetic to Rodney Eade throwing his hat into the ring. I think we should take a punt (2 year contract) on one of: Peter Jonas, Guy McKenna, Gary O'Donnell, or Neil Craig (depending on how he does in the next 10 weeks). Alternatively, we could just steal Geelongs coach again! The other area that needs addressing is the recruiting department. I think John Reid and James Fantasia could be under pressure to retain their positions.
You've pinched our last two-- and Mark Thompson is off limits. I like your idea of trying to hire a new coach with fresh ideas as opposed to going with a so-called "retread", much like a lot of NFL clubs tend to do and some fail miserably at doing so. The name among those you've mentioned that keeps coming up is that of Gary O'Donnell-- he seems to being bred for that first job, and it's a matter of time before he gets it. And I think he'll be pretty successful in his first season or two, largely due to the fact that he has those fresh ideas and can inspire a large group of players around those theories and teachings. However, I think the Crows' powers-that-be will give Craig every benefit of the doubt to prove himself, and see how the players respond to him and see if he gets the results. If those two criteria are met, then he should get the full-time job next year, IMO. By the way, on "White Line Fever" on Fox Footy Channel here, they revealed via a viewer poll (as unscientific as those are) that Wallace is preferred 40 per cent to 24 per cent as the Crows' coach for 2005.
Well, now it's getting more and more interesting... Tiffany Cherry (the hottie newsreader on Fox Footy Channel) just announced on her nightly news wrap-up on "White Line Fever" that Dermott Brereton-- in his role as a Hawthorn director-- has declared that Peter Schwab's position and performance will be reviewed at the end of the season. So watch this space... maybe the door will indeed open for Ayres. And I'll have the news links on this development, as they become available.
Nah mate, it was a throw away line at the end of my thoughts. I just don't have much respect for Gary Ayres, especially after what he tried to do to our great club. He was the main reason champion players such as Paul Couch, Gary Ablett Snr. and Mark Bairstow didn't come back to the club for a number of years after their careers were ended by Ayres. None of them got a proper send off... and that was terrible. Anyway, I digress. Dermott Brereton said exactly the same thing last year when Hawthorn weren't playing well. He said that all positions, (including Schwab's) would be under review at the end of the season and then they decided to keep him on. The first thing Hawthorn need to do is retire Nick Holland. He was a fantastic player in his day, but alas for Nick, injuries have caught up with him and reduced him to only a shaddow of his former self. Give him a proper send off at the end of the year, but then look to rebuild with a new coach and new direction.
Update on the Tony Liberatore question... Just spoke to my sports editor at the Ballarat Courier, where I work, and he said that "Libba" is now an assistant coach at Carlton under Denis Pagan. Liberatore coached last year at Box Hill, guiding the Hawks to the VFL Grand Final, but moved to Optus Oval at the start of this season. This archived article verifies that information. In any event, I doubt that Hawthorn could pinch him for his services, seeing that he might be well entrenched at Carlton, and maybe even to the point of being groomed as an eventual successor to Pagan himself.
And speaking of Hawthorn, here's something else that cannot be ignored, as long as Peter Schwab's coaching future is on the line, and everyone at Glenferrie is in a state of having their jobs reviewed... Brereton, Dunstall quit threat -- The Age Clip: Former Hawthorn champions Dermott Brereton and Jason Dunstall would quit the club board if president Ian Dicker is overthrown before the end of next season.
Wednesday's news round-up, related to the coaching merry-go-round... Crows tell Craig he's no sure thing -- The Herald Sun Hawthorn board unites behind Dicker -- The Herald Sun
If anyone has seen the make your own caption threads on other boards, I thought it might be good fun to come up with one for the below picture of former Adelaide coach, Gary Ayres. I'll start.... Do you want fries with that?
After seeing the results of the first part of round 13 I'm finding this all the more puzzling. I took for granted in reading this thread that the result of the round 13 clash with Western Bulldogs was the last straw leading to Ayres' demise. But the Crows lifted to a "Smart" victory over the Doggies...leading to the question, "why now?"
It would seem to me that the Crows' board had already made its decision long before the game last weekend against the Western Bulldogs, and had made a premeditated move to approach Ayres about their intentions during the bye week of the split round. Naturally, when they informed Ayres that he wasn't going to be the coach for 2005 and beyond, I think he'd ave every right to walk when asked if he could at least complete the season. All in all, I think the Adelaide board had resigned itself to the club being unable to make the finals this year, and are merely just taking the first step in a long rebuilding process. Granted, the retirements of Smart and Wayne Carey in the last seven days will make that process a lot easier.