Dear Members
I hope you are keeping safe and well.
The Club has, over the last six weeks, undertaken a review of our AFL football program with a key focus on the senior leadership roles and coaching. As lead of the review, I took the opportunity to speak to players and staff post season while still in the Queensland hub, followed by further interviews both internally and externally during the four weeks following.
We reviewed our football program formally and in depth for two key reasons:
- to ensure we have the right people, programs and resources to perform at our best in 2021; and
- to ensure the AFL-mandated $3m cut to our AFL football soft cap expenditure is managed in a way which minimises the impact on our football program strategy over the next three years.
The review was based around a thorough feedback process involving interviews with a cross section of players, coaches and staff which was then benchmarked against information gathered from industry experts, other high-performance organisations and elite clubs in Australia.
The Outcomes of the Review
The review highlighted areas of our current programs that were positive in 2020, including a list that continues to improve and an elite fitness program which delivered a relatively fit and healthy player list, despite a condensed AFL fixture. However, as you would expect, it also highlighted areas where we need to improve.
The recommendations that have come out of the review are broken into two distinct groups;
1. Improvements to our on-field performance relating to game plan, performance consistency and skill execution. For obvious reasons, I will not be discussing these publicly as this would not be in our best interests as a club, which I hope you understand.
What I will say, is that a clear outcome from the review is that we need to build more consistency into our standards and behaviours, both on and off the field. What is currently holding us back and keeping us from playing Finals footy is our inability to play consistently for four quarters; every game, every week without exception and irrespective of the opposition. We are dedicated to changing this dynamic, starting with every aspect of our pre-season.
2. Role changes in the senior leadership group, to allow us to execute the improvements mentioned above.
Senior Leadership Role Changes
There will be a several changes to the structure and roles of the senior leadership of the football program to ensure a higher level of focus, consistency and accountability for 2021. This includes:
The role of the General Manager of Football.
The scope of the General Manager of Football’s role has over time become broad, incorporating the development of multiple football facility projects as well as driving football performance. To create more focus and support around both programs, this position will be divided into two distinct roles. The two new senior leadership positions are as follows:
Alan Richardson, General Manager of AFL Football Performance
The review identified we require a head of football who is focused solely on the performance drivers of the football program. Alan will be the GM AFL Football Performance, overseeing the performance-based elements of the program including coaching, high performance, medical, performance psychology and skill development. Alan will drive a high-performance culture, alignment of our programs to the highest level of excellence and consistent achievement of desired standards and disciplines by all players both on and off the field.
Josh Mahoney, General Manager of Football Facilities and Administration
Josh will continue to oversee our List Management strategy and be responsible for the financial management of our soft cap and salary cap for AFL and AFLW. Josh will be a key part of the government led working party for the new home base development within the MCG sports precinct. He will oversee the continued development of the Casey Fields training/administration facilities and the City of Casey commercial strategy. Josh will ultimately be responsible for the AFLW, VFLW and VFL program strategy and will be based at our administration offices in the MCG.
Senior Coach and Assistant Coaches
The review identified significant support for Simon Goodwin as Senior Coach with faith in his ability to take our team to AFL Finals success. There is a real belief in the game plan and strategy, however there is also an acknowledgment by all involved that there was an inconsistent execution of the game plan this season, which ultimately cost us a place in the AFL Finals.
The review highlighted the coaching program requires an injection of new experience, energy and leadership around the Senior Coach. As a result, the changes to our Assistant Coaching structure are:
- Adem Yze has been appointed to the role of Midfield Coach. Adem will bring a new perspective, energy and fresh approach to our midfield group, which must be a key driver of our on-field success; and
- Greg Stafford has been appointed to the role of Forward Coach. Greg is a respected member of the football department having worked part-time with many of our key forwards as Goalkicking Coach and has worked with the mid-field group as Ruck Coach. Greg is a great educator and will hit the ground running with a long term understanding of our game strategy.
- Troy Chaplin will remain as the backline coach and will continue to build stability and cohesion among our defenders.
Coaching departures
Unfortunately, every Club has been forced to make difficult decisions for a variety of reasons and we aren’t immune to that. I’d like to sincerely thank several amazing servants of the Club, who have been great contributors over a long period of time however will not be part of our campaign for 2021.
- Max Rooke joined us at the end of 2016 and has been a big part of developing our youth over the years. He loved working with players and helping them improve and built strong relationships in his time at the club. We wish Max all the best for what’s next.
- Daniel Cross has also played an integral role, both on and off the field. He finished his playing career at Melbourne before joining our high-performance team and has been a pleasure to have around the club for seven years. He is the ultimate team player, and we know he will have great success for whatever lies ahead.
- Ben Mathews has been a trusted and respected assistant coach under both Paul Roos and Simon Goodwin. Ben has accepted a role at another AFL club, which he will announce in due course, and we wish him all the best and thank him of for his services.
- Justin Plapp was originally the coach of our VFL team and then brought into the AFL program and is a much-loved and respected coach. Justin has decided to put his energies into the family business, and we wish him continued success and thank him for his contribution to the club.
As members and supporters, I want to thank you for your continued loyalty to the Club. I hope you can see that the review exercise and subsequent changes are a sign that we will continue to challenge ourselves in a relentless effort to get our team back into Premiership contention and to make you feel proud to belong to this great Club. The players and coaches appreciate that you are rightly impatient for success and I hope you appreciate that they feel exactly the same. We must continue to back in this exciting, young player group as they are capable of achieving Finals success.
Some of our initiatives will be discussed in further detail at the upcoming members forum, with the date to be announced shortly.
The players and coaches are looking forward to performing at their best in 2021.
Thanks for your loyalty and support.
Go Dees.
Gary Pert
