You’ve got a large variety of characters on the Swans’ team. How do you manage it that they all seem to get on so well?

I think being in Sydney, we’re pretty lucky, because everyone does revolve around the footy club here. Generally our guys come from interstate, so out of necessity they have to get on well even if they don’t like each other. We put them together in living quarters so generally they do get on well because they spend a lot of time with each other. So it’s not something that I have to work hard on, to be honest.

Which characteristics did you have as a player that, as a coach, you’d most like your players to have?

I think I worked pretty hard as a player. I think having a work ethic and doing the right thing over and over and over again is important. You can’t take any short cuts and I think in my career I didn’t take any short cuts. I worked really hard as often as I could in order to be successful.

So you respect a hard working player more than a guy who’s a genius but doesn’t have that work ethic?

There’s no doubt about that. The most frustrating players you deal with, as a teammate and as a coach, are the ones that you know have enormous ability but that you know don’t put 100 per cent into it. It’s very hard for me to understand that and it’s hard for a lot of people to understand that. They are the ones that you get very frustrated with because you just can’t comprehend why you wouldn’t put everything into it because it’s such a good opportunity.

Having been a player yourself, do you sympathise with players who have succumbed to temptation and gone off the rails a bit and did you do the same when you were young?

What AFL players face when they are growing up is exactly the same as what a 19-year-old medical student faces. There are temptations, there’s drinking, there’s girls. They’re young guys. I enjoyed myself as a player. I don’t remember doing anything really silly to be honest but then I haven’t got a great memory for a start.

But players have got to understand that they are role models whether they like it or not and I get frustrated when I read high-profile players saying they’re not role models. I don’t think it’s a choice you make. That’s just part of what you are. Regardless of whether you want them to or not, people will look at you and what you do. You can choose to be a bad role model but you are a role model.

Do you think it’s important to keep a healthy distance from your players?

Well I’m 44 and some of the players are 17-18 years of age so I think the longer you go, you do have less in common with the players. I would think guys like (Brett) Kirky, Mick O’Loughlin, Hally (Barry Hall), I would think they’re more the types who would not worry whether I’m there or not there. I know them pretty well and they know me pretty well but I think that for the younger guys coming in it’s a lot harder. But that’s why we have coaching structures and senior players acting as mentors because I think it is a bit harder for a 21 or 22-year-old to talk to a 44-year-old about, not so much about footy stuff, but general stuff. So I think it’s more of an age distance or a generational distance rather than anything else.

But do you think it’s good, regardless of the reasons, to have that bit of distance, because at the end of the day you’re the boss and when trade week comes up, you can’t be best friends with all of them?

It’s more about honesty really. You can’t have a great relationship with 40 or 44 players, because you can’t spend enough time with all of them. I’d say that I’d consider several of the playing group very good friends and I say that in the way that when I finish coaching I’d be happy to catch up with them and socialise with them and maybe go away with them.

So it’s more about honesty rather than distance. If they choose to be distant, or I choose to be distant, then that’s okay, but as long as everyone’s honest. So what I’m saying is it doesn’t matter if you’re distant or close. You have to be honest with everyone. That’s the main thing, so then when it comes to trade week, like with (Adam) Schneids and Seanie (Dempster), you’ve just got to be honest with them.

Is it true that you told the entire player group that they were trade bait?

Yes.

And do you say that every year before trade week?

Every year I’ve done that and it’s all about honesty. The reality is, the way trade week works, is that everyone is up for trade. Everyone picked on Jude Bolton and Amon Buchanan this year but the reality is everyone’s tradeable but people aren’t prepared to say it. That’s just the reality of AFL footy. Now equally, the reality of trade week is that not many players are going to get traded so I can’t sit here at the start of trade week and say, 'Well Jude you’re going to get traded, Amon you’re not', so the simplest and most honest way to say it is that everyone’s tradeable. The only difference is, this year we got our leadership group involved and said, ‘Boys, do we need to make some changes?’ and they said, ‘Yes we do’. So that’s the only difference from previous years.

So the leadership group came back to you and said, ‘These are the type of players we need’, or did they put forward players who they were willing to have traded?

No. But they did ask me who I thought would be traded and I told them that I couldn’t possibly know at that stage what the trade would be.

As long as you’re honest with the group, things will be fine. We’ve had no problems since then with Jude (Bolton) or Amon (Buchanan) having been mentioned because they understand and I’m honest with them and they’re happy to be back. They didn’t want to be traded but they understand that’s how it works.

Click on the appropriate link to view parts one and two of the series.