THE ROLE of general manager, football has fundamentals at each AFL club.
But there is a style to each individual’s position inside the club.
Being a past player and life member of Melbourne allows me to get involved in both the business and spiritual sides of the club.
It’s important to assist the different revenue/business streams of the club, when the opportunity presents. But primarily, my role is to manage the football department, to create annual plans with each staff member, and to review those across the year.
It’s about each staff member having a job description and having a development plan in place. It’s about making sure that they can become the best person at their job possible.
The general crux of the club has gone from an environment of change to consolidating the foundations.
If you look at the major staff in the football department, we have about 40 people in our area.
If you look back three years ago, there were roughly only four people doing the same job.
The change has been enormous.
It hasn’t just been about the staff, but the change in environment, now that we have AAMI Park and Casey as our main training venues.
Now it’s about consolidating what we do, helping the staff get better, and making sure they work together better. It’s also important to create the right environment for improvement.
All of those areas cross over, and of course Dean Bailey and I are right across them.
From my point of view, managing the football department is about the budget, improving each of six separate areas and every individual within it.
Within that, I’m involved with specific groups, which look at innovations with sports science, technique and technology. Being involved in future planning and where we’re heading as a department is also a priority. I also work strongly across the department with Leading Teams in developing consistent values and behaviours.
We give everyone a clear understanding of our culture and where we want it to be.
We have meetings with the senior managers every week. This includes Cameron Schwab (chief executive), John Poulakakis (chief commercial officer), Matt Green (chief operating officer), Jen Watt (GM marketing and communications) and we also have a representative from the Centre Bounce Team, which is someone who represents the staff.
The following is a look at the six area’s in the football department. This includes full-time and part-time members.
Team: Dean Bailey (Senior Coach), Mark Williams (Ball Movement Coach), Brian Royal (Defensive Coach), Josh Mahoney (Forward Coach) Scott West (Midfield Coach), Dave Dunbar (Innovation Coach), Jim Plunkett (Leading Teams)
Academy: Todd Viney (GM, Player Development), Kelly O’Donnell (Academy Coach), Brad Gotch (Casey Coach), Fraser Carson (Mental Skills Coach) Kevin Ball (Biomechanics), John Bowman (Grappling/ Boxing Coach), David Loats (Ruck Coach)
Conditioning: Joel Hocking (Fitness Manager), Adam Paulo (Fitness Coach), Valeri Stoimenov (Strength & Conditioning Coach), Bohdan Babijczuk (High Performance Consultant), Katie Mouritz (Training Load Analyst), Joanna Shinewell (Dietician), Alex Sakadjian (Fitness Assistant)
Medical: Sam Pietsch (Head Physiotherapist), Benn Logan (Physio), Andrew Daff (Head Doctor), Kal Fried (Doctor), Paula Charlton (Physio/ screening), Shane O’Sullivan (Casey physio), Matthew Appleton (Podiatrist), John Stanaway (Head Trainer), Ron Griffiths (Masseur Coordinator)
Operating: Craig Notman (Operations Manager), Jackie Emmerton (Administration Manager), Ian Flack (Personal Dev. Coach), Craig Lees (Player Resource Manager), Anthony Brown (Property Manager), Sean Larkin (Trainee), Spike Harris (Team Manager)
Technology: Peter Roberts (Football Technology Manager), Darren Farrugia (Football Technology / Recruiting Assistant)
Being a past player and life member of Melbourne allows me to get involved in both the business and spiritual sides of the club.
It’s important to assist the different revenue/business streams of the club, when the opportunity presents. But primarily, my role is to manage the football department, to create annual plans with each staff member, and to review those across the year.
It’s about each staff member having a job description and having a development plan in place. It’s about making sure that they can become the best person at their job possible.
The general crux of the club has gone from an environment of change to consolidating the foundations.
If you look at the major staff in the football department, we have about 40 people in our area.
If you look back three years ago, there were roughly only four people doing the same job.
The change has been enormous.
It hasn’t just been about the staff, but the change in environment, now that we have AAMI Park and Casey as our main training venues.
Now it’s about consolidating what we do, helping the staff get better, and making sure they work together better. It’s also important to create the right environment for improvement.
All of those areas cross over, and of course Dean Bailey and I are right across them.
From my point of view, managing the football department is about the budget, improving each of six separate areas and every individual within it.
Within that, I’m involved with specific groups, which look at innovations with sports science, technique and technology. Being involved in future planning and where we’re heading as a department is also a priority. I also work strongly across the department with Leading Teams in developing consistent values and behaviours.
We give everyone a clear understanding of our culture and where we want it to be.
We have meetings with the senior managers every week. This includes Cameron Schwab (chief executive), John Poulakakis (chief commercial officer), Matt Green (chief operating officer), Jen Watt (GM marketing and communications) and we also have a representative from the Centre Bounce Team, which is someone who represents the staff.
The following is a look at the six area’s in the football department. This includes full-time and part-time members.
Team: Dean Bailey (Senior Coach), Mark Williams (Ball Movement Coach), Brian Royal (Defensive Coach), Josh Mahoney (Forward Coach) Scott West (Midfield Coach), Dave Dunbar (Innovation Coach), Jim Plunkett (Leading Teams)
Academy: Todd Viney (GM, Player Development), Kelly O’Donnell (Academy Coach), Brad Gotch (Casey Coach), Fraser Carson (Mental Skills Coach) Kevin Ball (Biomechanics), John Bowman (Grappling/ Boxing Coach), David Loats (Ruck Coach)
Conditioning: Joel Hocking (Fitness Manager), Adam Paulo (Fitness Coach), Valeri Stoimenov (Strength & Conditioning Coach), Bohdan Babijczuk (High Performance Consultant), Katie Mouritz (Training Load Analyst), Joanna Shinewell (Dietician), Alex Sakadjian (Fitness Assistant)
Medical: Sam Pietsch (Head Physiotherapist), Benn Logan (Physio), Andrew Daff (Head Doctor), Kal Fried (Doctor), Paula Charlton (Physio/ screening), Shane O’Sullivan (Casey physio), Matthew Appleton (Podiatrist), John Stanaway (Head Trainer), Ron Griffiths (Masseur Coordinator)
Operating: Craig Notman (Operations Manager), Jackie Emmerton (Administration Manager), Ian Flack (Personal Dev. Coach), Craig Lees (Player Resource Manager), Anthony Brown (Property Manager), Sean Larkin (Trainee), Spike Harris (Team Manager)
Technology: Peter Roberts (Football Technology Manager), Darren Farrugia (Football Technology / Recruiting Assistant)
