HOW many coaches does it take to build a talented list? The 18 AFL clubs vary in the number of development coaches they employ and the roles those coaches fulfil, but each is committed to bringing out the best in the newly arrived draftees, rookies and those on the verge of breakout seasons. Our writers take a club by club look at the development staff charged with helping the next generation of stars reach their full potential.
Adelaide
DEVELOPMENT TEAM:
Heath Younie, Ryan O'Keefe, Tate Kaesler, Paul Thomas
THE GUN
The coach of Adelaide's SANFL side, Heath Younie obviously plays a crucial role in the development of the club's emerging players – so it was little surprise that he was appointed head of development in 2015. Younie oversees the development programs of Adelaide's players and works particularly closely with the club's first-to-third-year players. He helps educate the more inexperienced guys about what it takes to be an elite athlete off the field and meets with each once every few weeks, while the likes of O'Keefe, Kaesler and Thomas meet with them more regularly. As SANFL coach, Younie also trains the side's non-listed players twice a week and is currently in the process of reducing the Crows secondary squad from around 80 players to 30. - Harry Thring
Brisbane Lions
DEVELOPMENT TEAM:
Gary O'Donnell, Shane Woewodin, Leigh Harding, Simon Black, Mitch Hahn, Ben Hudson, Scott Borlace
THE GUN
The Lions have structured their system more towards development in the past two years and now have an army of coaches to help their young team. Borlace is the least known of the coaches, but has been rewarded for his work with the Lions Academy, and may have had the biggest impact. He is partly responsible the rise of players like Jono Freeman, Harris Andrews, Liam Dawson and more recently Ben Keays and Eric Hipwood. With the youngest list in the AFL, having a coach with a proven record of developing young talent is critical. - Michael Whiting
Carlton
DEVELOPMENT TEAM
Matthew Capuano, Josh Fraser
THE GUN
Capuano has been part of Carlton's development team since 2009, a role that has also seen the North Melbourne premiership ruckman tutor the Blues' ruck brigade. Working closely with Northern Blues senior coach Fraser, Capuano focuses on Carlton's first and second-year players. The Blues put their draftees through a general induction program, teaching them about things such as injury prevention, recovery and time management. Capuano regularly works one-on-one and in small groups with Carlton's youngsters on the training track, addressing the technical areas they need to improve. The Blues' entire coaching group has a strong development focus, so Capuano works closely with new senior coach Brendon Bolton and his team of assistants. Throughout the season, he takes his charges through weekly video edits of their games. - Nick Bowen
Matthew Capuano has been the main man for Blues youngsters when they join the club. Picture: AFL Media
Collingwood
DEVELOPMENT TEAM
Dale Tapping, Anthony Rocca, Tarkyn Lockyer, Jared Rivers
THE GUN
Tapping has been the Magpies' VFL coach since 2013 and has taken the team to the finals each season, this year progressing through to a narrow semi-final loss to Sandringham. The Pies' development structure has been relatively stable over the past few years, and enters 2016 with just one addition to the panel after the departure of Craig McCrae, who has gone to Richmond to head up the Tigers' VFL team. McCrae was development manager at Collingwood, which is a role that won't be filled next season, and also oversaw the defenders' development. Former Melbourne and Geelong defender Jared Rivers has replaced him in respect to developing the Pies' backmen, while Anthony Rocca (forwards) and Tarkyn Lockyer (midfielders) will again fill roles specific to each line. - Jennifer Phelan
Essendon
DEVELOPMENT TEAM
Matthew Egan, Paul Corrigan, Mark Corrigan, Dan Jordan
THE GUN:
Essendon has a unique set up within its development unit and a restructured department this year, with the previous head of the program, Mark Neeld, moving into a newly created game strategy role. Assistant coach Egan takes over as head of the club's development and will also be its VFL coach, while Jordan has also recently been appointed to the position as a development coach. He'll start at Essendon next month. Egan is building a nice coaching CV – he has coached the forward and backline groups at Essendon and did an excellent job in the interim senior post last year after James Hird's departure. He indicated during that period he needed to coach his own team for more experience, so will get that chance this year. Mark Corrigan stood in as VFL coach last year in the final few rounds last year, so has that under his belt, while Paul Corrigan is also a development coach worth keeping an eye on. Corrigan shared duties as VFL coach last year with Hayden Skipworth, and ran the senior group's backline following Hird's exit. He has helped bring out the talent in young half-backs Marty Gleeson and Orazio Fantasia, and was also a big reason why Irishman Conor McKenna transitioned so quickly and seamlessly into AFL football last season in his first year in Australia. This season Corrigan will work closely with Guy McKenna and the Bombers' midfield group. - Callum Twomey
Matthew Egan will return to a development role after he was interim coach this year. Picture: AFL Media
Fremantle
DEVELOPMENT TEAM:
Simon Eastaugh, Marc Webb, Roger Hayden, Brent Guerra, Cam Shepherd
THE GUN
The Dockers lost their senior development coach Simon Lloyd at the end of last season. In his absence Eastaugh has become a very important presence at pre-season training. Eastaugh has vast experience having played briefly for both Essendon and Fremantle. He began as a specialist ruck coach at Fremantle in 2003. He moved to a senior coaching role at WAFL level with Perth for two seasons before working with Port Adelaide as the WA recruiting manager. In 2010 he joined West Coast and did a four-year stint as the ruck coach before moving back to Fremantle. He works very closely with ruck group and the young key position players but has been overseeing other drills through the early part of pre-season. - Alex Malcolm
Geelong Cats
DEVELOPMENT TEAM
Nigel Lappin, Shane O'Bree, Troy Selwood, Paul Hood
THE GUN
After some off-season staff changes, the Cats have taken a collaborative approach to the way they run their academy. The program is designed to deliver measurable improvements in understanding of game-plan and skill development, as well as teaching the club's young players the standards and habits expected at AFL level. Lappin works closely with coach Chris Scott, as well as delivering presentations about game plan detail to the club's academy players. Lappin is personable and players naturally warm to how he conducts himself in meetings and in one-on-one chats. An excellent communicator, O'Bree has been installed as VFL coach for 2016. He will have a major role to play in helping to unearth the club's talented young players through the VFL system, while also having a handle on the day-to-day running of the AFL program. Both Lappin and O'Bree have plenty of experience, but most importantly they know how to develop and grow the individual. - Ben Guthrie
Gold Coast Suns
DEVELOPMENT TEAM
Aaron Rogers, Matthew Lappin, Max Rooke, Stephen Daniel
THE GUN
He came with a good reputation from Collingwood, but in just 12 months at the Suns, 'Skinny' Lappin has enhanced his standing in the coaching ranks. The former Saint and Blue has now taken up the newly created head of development coaching role and is very hands on with the entire team. Lappin came on the recommendation of coach Rodney Eade and worked particularly closely with the young players last year. He has an attention to detail that both impresses and earns the respect of the players and is not afraid to voice his views in team meetings. - Michael Whiting
GWS Giants
DEVELOPMENT TEAM
Brett Hand, Brad Miller,Nick Walsh
THE GUN
Hand wasthe Giants' inaugural coach before they entered the AFL under Kevin Sheedy, thentaking over as coach of the club's reserves side in the NEAFL. Hand relinquishedhis role to former Melbourne forward Millerfor the 2016 season and is now the head of development at Greater WesternSydney. During his time at GWS, Hand has helped shape the careers of the manyyoung stars on the Giants' list and has a strong teaching aspect to his skillset. Hand won't have a huge match-day role, but his insight and intimateknowledge of the playing group is invaluable to senior coach Leon Cameron. - Adam Curley
Hawthorn
DEVELOPMENT TEAM
Rob McCartney, Chris Newman, Marco Bello
THE GUN
The head of player development at Hawthorn never came within a bull's roar of playing AFL football. For nearly 25 years, McCartney combined a teaching career in the bush with playing and coaching and indeed, his most recent job before joining the Hawks at the start of 2015 was as a primary school principal in Shepparton. They like their former teachers at Hawthorn and among the past and present coaches and football department members with teaching backgrounds are Alastair Clarkson, David Rath, Brendon Bolton, Chris Fagan, Mark Evans and Damian Carroll. Watch some of the Player in Focus videos on the Hawthorn website and it is easy to warm to McCartney, to appreciate his football knowledge and to understand why the Hawks have entrusted him with such a key role after just 12 months at the club. - Ashley Browne
Chris Newman has taken up a role at Hawthorn after retiring this year. Picture: AFL Media
Melbourne
DEVELOPMENT TEAM:
Brendan McCartney, Justin Plapp, Brett Allison, Daniel McPherson, Daniel Cross, Craig Jennings
THE GUN:
Considering the pitfalls of past regimes, Melbourne has invested heavily in the development arm of the club in the past two seasons. Part of the enhanced focus on development has stemmed from the Demons' improved alignment with VFL affiliate club the Casey Scorpions. Plapp, who is aligned with Melbourne, will coach the Scorpions again in 2016 with valuable input from Allison and McPherson, who will be game day line coaches. Bringing the experienced McCartney in to bolster the club's development team at the start of last season saw some obvious rewards with the outstanding seasons that Jesse Hogan and Angus Brayshaw, in particular, put together. McCartney, as development manager, and the rest of the coaches, work closely with the players, laying out specific development plans so they can track their set goals at different points of the season. – Ben Guthrie
North Melbourne
DEVELOPMENT TEAM
Gavin Brown, Ben Dyer, David Loader
THE GUN
Unlike coaches who see development roles as stepping stones to assistant or senior roles, Brown is content he's found his niche as a senior development coach. The former Collingwood skipper spent 11 seasons in assistant and VFL coaching roles at the Magpies and Carlton before joining North's development team at the end of the 2013 season. Brown will work closely with North's 2015 draftees and other youngsters this summer, putting them through a lot of targeted skills drills and closely monitoring their weights programs. During the season, Brown works primarily with the club's VFL players, reviewing game-day vision with individual players and running the group's last training session of the week (when the senior team trains separately). He is also consulted on selection each week, reporting to the North match committee on which VFL players should be considered for the senior team. In his two seasons at North, Brown has been instrumental in the development of Ben Brown, Taylor Garner, Kayne Turner and Trent Dumont. - Nick Bowen
Port Adelaide
DEVELOPMENT TEAM
Aaron Greaves, Chad Cornes, Trent Hentschel, Stuart Cochrane, Jacob Surjan.
THE GUN
As the head of player development at Alberton, Aaron Greaves is responsible for coordinating and tracking the programs of every player on Port's list – from the superstars down to the rookies. He keeps tabs on how much time each player is spending in each positional role at training and also helps to edit game footage for each individual, tailoring it to align with the areas targeted for improvement. Greaves also works closely with the club's key position players and ruckmen. He played plenty of VFL football and before joining the Power he was a midfield assistant at Melbourne. - Harry Thring
Richmond
DEVELOPMENT TEAM
Mark Williams, Craig McCrae, Andrew McQualter, Ryan Ferguson
THE GUN
Since arriving at Punt Road at the end of 2012, Port Adelaide premiership coach Williams has featured as a significant part of the Tigers' development team. With extensive coaching knowledge, Williams – who most recently honed his development experience at Greater Western Sydney in the club's formative years – has also taken ownership of mentoring specific players over the last three seasons, including Dustin Martin. He also helped settle interstate recruits in Melbourne by showing them basic life skills such as performing hook turns in the CBD. This season, former Melbourne defender Ryan Ferguson will assume a full-time development role alongside Andrew McQualter in Williams' team, following the departure of Max Bailey, who has left to pursue charity work in Africa. - Jennifer Phelan
St Kilda
DEVELOPMENT TEAM
Paul Hudson, Danny Sexton, Aaron Hamill, Adam Kingsley, Rohan Welsh, Peta Searle, Simon McPhee, Lindsay Gilbee
THE GUN
Sexton will have significant responsibility under the renamed role of director of coaching and development in 2016. The Saints have revamped their entire coaching structure, which eliminates specific development roles and looks to empower every assistant coach with aspects of those previous positions. Sexton will be in charge of the coaching group, which will be broken into three sub-groups led by Hamill, Kingsley and Welsh, and will also oversee the individual development plans of each player in a significant job given the age demographic of the list. In what they aim to be a structure with an even spread of responsibility where development and performance is merged, Hudson will coach Sandringham again after a positive first season where he took the Zebras to a close preliminary final defeat and, along with Searle, will assume responsibilities in Hamill's team. The other lines will include McPhee, who was their previous academy manager, Gilbee and part-timers Adam Skrobalak and Danny Frawley, under Kingsley and Welsh. - Jennifer Phelan
Peta Searle will continue her role in the Saints' development team. Picture: AFL Media
Sydney Swans
DEVELOPMENT TEAM
John Blakey, Rhyce Shaw,Nick Davis
THE GUN
After a 359-game playingcareer with Fitzroy and North Melbourne and time as an assistant coach to LeighMatthews at the Brisbane Lions, and Paul Roos and John Longmire at the SydneySwans, Blakey is one of the mosthighly regarded men in the AFL. Blakey was most recently the backline coach atthe Swans, but has now taken on a newly created role as director of coachingand development. His experience will help guide the Swans' younger players andrecently retired 2012 premiership Swan Shaw,who will coach the reserves, while he'll still be a cool head for Longmire tolean on if need be on match-day. - Adam Curley
West Coast Eagles
DEVELOPMENT TEAM
Gavin Bell, Jaymie Graham, Adam Selwood, Mark Nicoski, Luke Webster
THE GUN
Bell has the lowest playing profile of the Eagles' development team although he did play in a WAFL premiership with West Perth. But he has been in the Eagles' development coaching team since 2008 after a lengthy stint coaching at West Perth. Bell coached the West Perth colts (under-18s) and has a teaching background. He has been the Eagles' head of development since the start of 2014 and has been charged with overseeing the WAFL players on the Eagles list, in particular the first- to third-year players. He also sits on the Eagles match committee. He has a low profile presence at training but works very closely with the WAFL players. - Alex Malcolm
Western Bulldogs
DEVELOPMENT TEAM
Chris Maple, Stewart Edge, Jordan Russell, Jamie Maddocks, Ash Hansen, Brian Cordy, Chad Jones, Brent Prismall
THE GUN
Quietly working away behind the scenes at Whitten Oval since 2008, Maple has become a valued member of the Bulldogs' coaching panel. The experienced mentor previously held a development role with North Ballarat Rebels in the TAC Cup, head coaching roles in country footy and then led Footscray to the 2014 VFL premiership in the team's first year in the competition. 2015 season saw him appointed head of development where his program oversaw first-year players Caleb Daniel, Bailey Dale, Lukas Webb, Zaine Cordy and Toby McLean make seamless transitions to senior footy. - Ryan Davidson
