I cannot stress enough the importance of the coach’s role. He must encourage his players to believe it is possible to do things they thought impossible, to show in their own play imagination and initiative above the ordinary.
– Norm Smith
Essendon’s demolition of West Coast on Saturday night was clinical and ferocious. They strangled the contest, holding the Eagles to seven goals and found enough space to win by 61 points.
Given little chance of contesting the premiership before the season, Essendon is suddenly being talked about. Defeating the Eagles, a premiership fancy, was another statement made, another competitor bested in a season rapidly gaining momentum.
Essendon is playing with confidence and flair. They’re second on the ladder behind West Coast. They haven’t exactly had a soft draw, with games against Carlton, Collingwood and the Eagles, three clubs expected to play finals. Through seven rounds, only Collingwood, with a one point win in the Anzac Day game, has beaten them.
James Hird, in his second year as coach, has proved a revelation. He has encouraged his players to believe in the impossible. He has supplanted mistrust and apathy with confidence.
His predecessor, the ill-fated Matthew Knights must be aggrieved. Two years ago after the Bombers finished fourteenth with seven wins, he was sacked. It hardly mattered that Knights had coached Essendon to the elimination final in 2009. It was an inglorious effort, a 96-point loss to Adelaide.
Knights was a good attacking midfielder with Richmond. His flaws included limited defensive skills and he coached the same way. Essendon played one way football, all attack, no defence and consistently got hammered.
In Hird’s first season there was improvement but Essendon kept getting belted. Finishing eighth was a bonus. Losing the elimination final to Carlton by 62-points was predictable surrender.
The turnaround this season has surprised many. Essendon’s pressure at the ball and the man has improved. They’re ranked fourth in defence and fourth in attack. Importantly they score quickly and heavily. The players have confidence in each other, able to kick to the jumper now without worrying who is wearing it.
It is amazing the difference a coach can make to a playing list. Essendon seem on the cusp of a standout era. They’ve got a core group of tough veterans and a swag of good players aged under 25. Most of those young men have played between 50 and 100 games.
They’re building rapidly, and they remind me of another club and another coach in another era.
Back in 1993, Wayne Schimmelbusch was coaching North Melbourne. A club legend, Schimmelbusch was a long serving captain, former games record holder (306) and a dual premiership player. He’d served a long apprenticeship under legendary coach John Kennedy.
The club was supposed to be in good hands. North, with a bevy of hardened veterans and emerging rookies, was expected to play finals.
Under Schimmelbusch North never made the finals. In 1990, his first year, North finished sixth, two games outside the finals. In 1991, North sat third at the halfway mark of the season but five losses in the last seven rounds sent North tumbling from the top six.
1992 was supposed to be North’s year. It wasn’t. North crashed and finished twelfth. An aberration, suggested the experts. The list was too good for such failure. Impatient North fans looked forward to 1993, when Schimma’s pedigree would shine…
A 147-point loss to Adelaide in a pre-season game was Schimmelbusch’s last as coach. He resigned 24 days before the season started. Denis Pagan was appointed.
When Pagan arrived at Arden Street, he was appalled by the lack of confidence among his playing group. There was a disconnect between veterans and rookies. The club was broke, lacking spirit. Fans were angry with the administration.
Pagan discovered Schimma wasn’t a great communicator. Schimma, it seemed, coached by distance. His game plan – all out attack, meant when North lost, they got thrashed.
During that first month before round one, talking to the players left Pagan exhausted. Instilling confidence seemed endless. That first win against Brisbane was a relief. Midway through 1993 North was on top.
Pagan taught his footballers to take the game on. He demanded confidence in each other and the game plan. They ran hard and kicked long. In defence, basic stuff like punching from behind became a feature. North went from the amateurs to the big league in four weeks.
In 1996, North won the premiership.
Amazing what a difference a coach can make…
Essendon has a good list. They had a good list two years ago when Knights was at the helm. All they needed was a coach who could instil confidence and preach a bulwark in defence. If they win a premiership any time soon, Hird will get the deserved accolades, as Pagan did at North.
An ancient Mafia cliché suggests your enemies get stronger on what you leave behind. Hird, like Pagan, inherited a reasonable list. They’re not the first coaches to gain access to an adequate list, and though the rebuild is constant, neither man had the misfortune to take over disturbing lists like Richmond’s or Melbourne’s.
History won’t acknowledge it, but Matthew Knights and Wayne Schimmelbusch both drafted some good footballers.
Like Schimma, Knights deserves acknowledgement for Essendon’s current list. Under Knights, Essendon’s notable draftees include Heath Hocking (67 games), Tayte Pears (52), Cale Hooker (53), Michael Hurley (51), David Zaharakis (59), Tom Bellchambers (31) and Jake Melksham (43).
Those men could form the nucleus of Essendon’s side for the next decade.
At North Melbourne in the early nineties, Schimmelbusch drafted Mark Roberts, Matthew Capuano, John Blakey, Dean Laidley, Adam Simpson and David King.
All of those footballers played in the 1996 premiership. All but Roberts played in the 1999 premiership.
Pagan became a dual premiership coach. Part of his success can be attributed to Wayne Schimmelbusch’s success at the draft. If Hird coaches Essendon to a premiership, Knights should also be acknowledged for the work he did at the draft.
Knights and Schimmelbusch helped build solid lists, and while they left their clubs with a better list than when they arrived, history shows they just couldn’t coach.
Success, though, remains with the incumbent. Those who passed previously receive no credit, no matter what they did.
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