COACHES-IN-WAITING Brendon Bolton, Stuart Dew and Matthew Nicks head the first intake of the AFL's coaching accreditation course, putting them in pole position for the next senior vacancy.
After considering applications through February, the AFL has locked in nine coaches to start the level four course, which will become mandatory for those applying for senior positions in the future.
Melbourne senior assistant Simon Goodwin, who will take over from coach Paul Roos ahead of the 2017 season, has also been selected in a group that reflects an industry consensus on the next wave of senior coaches.
Rounding out the first intake are John Barker (Carlton), Blake Caracella (Geelong), Robert Harvey (Collingwood), Adam Kingsley (St Kilda) and Simon Lloyd (Fremantle).
The last of the successful candidates was notified on Wednesday following an extensive selection process involving a panel of leading coaches and club CEOs.
After appointing new senior coaches at the end of last year, Adelaide, Gold Coast and the Western Bulldogs were also consulted for their view on who their leading candidates had been.
Ex-Hawthorn coach Peter Schwab and 2006 West Coast premiership coach John Worsfold were joined by Socceroos coach Ange Postecoglou, leading hockey coach Ric Charlesworth and club CEOs Trevor Nisbett (West Coast), Greg Swann (Brisbane Lions), Peter Jackson (Melbourne) and Brian Cook (Geelong) in the selection process.
“The course centres around four key components – core coaching modules, an individual learning plan, a program for high impact leadership and individual coach mentoring,” AFL football operations manager Mark Evans said.
“The core modules will address areas including rules, regulations, governance, integrity, government relations and the economy of the game. Other modules will address quality coaching practice, strategic communications, media training and ethical leadership,” he said.
Evans said the individual learning plan for each coach would be developed with their respective club and coach mentor, designed to round out their skills and experience. It is likely they will complete their tailored courses at different stages.
It is understood the majority of past senior coaches who have remained active in the industry will be awarded the level four accreditation. As a result, all applicants were assistant coaches who were yet to coach their own team at AFL level.
Bolton (Hawthorn), Dew (Sydney Swans) and Nicks (Port Adelaide) have firmed as future senior coaches in the past 12-24 months, and all will have taken the reins at their respective clubs by the end of the NAB Challenge.
After standing in for coach Alastair Clarkson last season and leading the Hawks to five successive wins, Bolton was among the applicants for the vacant Adelaide position.
Dew, meanwhile, was heavily courted by Melbourne in 2013 to succeed Roos before being linked to the Crows job last year.
Lloyd, 44, is the most experienced of the inductees having held a wide variety of roles at Hawthorn, Collingwood and Fremantle since 1998. He is currently the Dockers' senior development and assistant coach.
The course's development has been led by the AFL's Michael Poulton with input from former senior coaches Brendan McCartney, Neale Daniher and John Worsfold.
The curriculum is based on a model from the International Council for Coach Education, which has been tailored to the AFL by McCartney.
The AFL Coaches Association has co-funded the project and will work with the AFL to ensure it is successful, CEO Mark Brayshaw told AFL.com.au.
"The AFL Coaches Association is very supportive of the level four senior coach program because it's going to take nine participants through a very rigorous process and give them a better chance to be successful if they are appointed senior coaches," Brayshaw said.
"We're aware that a handful of applicants have not been admitted on this occasion, however, because the application process was so thorough we think there's some very valuable feedback available to them to enhance their professional development prior to hopefully being admitted in future intakes.
"It's very important that this year's participants are really challenged and stretched and that they come out at the end of the program endorsing its value.
"So we're going to work very hard with the AFL to make sure that outcome is achieved."
