It was his first day of a week with Melbourne Football Club.
According to his close friend, mentor and colleague - director of sports performance Neil Craig - Walsh was sought out by Melbourne as per its strategic direction, which wants “leaders in their field” involved in the club.
“Charlie Walsh is one of those,” Craig told melbournefc.com.au.
“The reason we got him here is because he’s got expertise on cycling programs, which are really important for us, because they are a form of cross training.”
“We want to make sure that any cycling program we provide our players with is of the highest level, because a lot of our players do cycling as part of their rehab with injury.
“[He’ll be here this week and then] we’ll be guided by [what happens] after that, depending on what areas we continue to explore.”
Already this week, Walsh has spoken to Melbourne’s leadership group about the value of strong leadership, and the requirements of high performance sport.
Craig said that Walsh had also told Melbourne’s first to third year players about his ‘no limitations, high expectations’ mantra.
“The game doesn’t know how old you are. If you want to be a world champion at 17, then the world’s your oyster,” Craig said of Walsh’s advice.
Craig, who was the first full-time sports scientist at the South Australian Institute of Sport, met Walsh “by chance” in the mid-1980s when the two worked together. He spent 15 years with Walsh’s cycling program, and travelled the world with him. Craig said that Walsh was instrumental in helping transform the Australian cycling team.
“We were probably the laughing stock of the world and then within four to five years the most feared nation in the world,” he said.
“While we didn’t know it at the time, I was in this environment, watching these changes occur.
“On reflection, you learn some great lessons from it.”
After working under Walsh at the South Australian Institute of Sport, Craig lured Walsh when he took the top coaching job at the Crows.
“When I was made the senior coach of Adelaide footy club in 2004, I employed Charlie, so he worked for me,” he said.
“He was a great mentor for me as well.
“He brought the whole package, and from an international level.”
Craig said Walsh’s coaching and leadership philosophies did not change from one sport to another.
“Whether it’s cycling, AFL or badminton - there are a whole range of generic concepts that are really important,” he said.
“The best competition in the world for AFL footy actually resides in Australia. It’s the best competition in the world that these guys play.
“The thing I like about Charlie is that he’s had to compete at the international level, so it’s not Melbourne versus Collingwood or against Richmond or Essendon. It’s Australia versus America, versus Germany, versus England, versus Spain, versus Russia, versus China.
“So if you don’t think you can learn from someone like that - good luck.”
Craig was adamant that Walsh’s coaching experience was relevant to all sports - not just cycling, where he made his greatest mark.
“Charlie is retired, having been involved for approximately 20 years as head coach of Australian cycling,” he said.
“During that time, he’s been to 16 world championships and six Olympic Games. He’s coached Olympic gold medallists and world champions.
“What we have here is a guy with an enormous amount of experience at international level, but more importantly, an enormous success at international level. His concepts, theories and philosophies on coaching will have applications to any high performance sport.”
Craig regarded Walsh and Ric Charlesworth as Australia’s “elite, master coaches” outside of the AFL.
“Outside of footy, Charlie would be as good as anyone I’ve come across,” he said.
“I’ve had a reasonable amount to do with Ric Charlesworth, and I’d put Charlie in the same category as Charlesworth.”
“[That’s] because of their experience that they’ve had at international level, and the experience of getting our nation to be successful and continuing to be successful over a long period of time. Their record speaks for itself.”
