For AFL coaches, the end of season clean-out this year has been brutal.
When senior coaches get the bullet, their appointed assistants and advisers go with them.
Ever since Brenton Sanderson was sacked by Adelaide a fortnight ago, the coaching circus has been nothing short of frantic.
When Sanderson was fired, Crows powerbroker Mark Ricciuto called good friend Simon Goodwin (an assistant at Essendon) to assess his interest.
A day later, Goodwin was signed up to be Paul Roos’ protege and successor at Melbourne.
Mark Thompson (Essendon’s caretaker coach for 2014) was on the market, but he was filthy at the way Adelaide axed former colleague Sanderson and was never going to entertain their advances.
Brendon Bolton (assistant at Hawthorn) and Stuart Dew (assistant at Sydney) had a grand final to concentrate on, so the Crows waited.
As they did, Gold Coast coach Guy McKenna was put through the wringer.
A review was reviewed and McKenna’s cards were marked.
But the Suns didn’t want to act before the grand final, so McKenna was in limbo until the axe fell on Wednesday.
The industry is notoriously cut-throat, but this was more blood-thirsty than usual.
In the background, Essendon pondered the future of their suspended coach James Hird and whether to appeal Justice John Middleton’s emphatic ruling.
Thompson was hunted by the Suns.
Thompson was set to sign with the Suns.
Essendon had to act, but they were stuck in a muddle.
James Hird was at loggerheads with Essendon officials; he did not attend the club’s best-and-fairest awards night.
Thompson was there and he spoke of his love for the Bombers.
Thompson flew out to the United States the next day, with a lot to think about and seemingly no clear idea of what he’d be doing in 2015.
Even by the supplements-saga standards of the past two years, Essendon were a shemozzle.
Senior assistant coach Goodwin is gone, Thompson may still be going and Hird is holding on for dear life. He is surely shot.
Former West Coach premiership coach John Worsfold insists he is not on the market.
Former Brisbane coach Michael Voss has said likewise in recent weeks.
Bolton and Dew appear leading candidates for a promotion to senior coach, both having premiership experience as right-hand men at Hawthorn and Sydney respectively.
Essendon assistant Nathan Bassett, who coached Norwood to the first two wins in its SANFL three-peat has made a presentation to Adelaide’s panel.
Who lands where is yet to be written.
For some of these clubs, there must surely be a better way to handle transition.
UPDATE:
Monday, Melbourne: Essendon coach James Hird remains in charge at the AFL club for the time being.
The Bombers have released a statement, saying the board met today and decided it’s potentially too reckless to make any major decisions.
Chairman Paul Little says it’s a complex situation, given Hird is appealing against last month’s Federal Court verdict and ASADA is expected to soon issue amended show cause notices.
Hird and Essendon are at odds after he decided to appeal against the court verdict.
Hird left Essendon’s Tullamarine headquarters after a day at work, saying he was focussed on the current AFL trade period.
