Remarkably, the seven-point appraisal employed by Geelong reduces what are generally considered the key attributes for any coach - experience, tactical skill and technical nous - to just 30 per cent of the club’s total consideration.
The Geelong model confirms the role of an AFL coach is fast becoming a manager’s job - of the style of the English Premier League - rather than one based on deep football knowledge.
For most previous generations of the AFL, potential coaches were former champion players who could walk into a senior job based on their playing record, and capacity to communicate.
Now, according to Cook, would-be coaches must be capable in an array of areas, with their management and HR skills placed well ahead of their tactical acumen.
The AFL’s long-serving current CEO - he’s fronting up for his 22nd year in 2011 - outlined Geelong’s system in a keynote address at last weekend’s AFL National Coaching Conference.
The ‘weighting’ system employed by the Cats saw Scott follow Mark Thompson into the senior coaching position at Skilled Stadium.
The Cats used the system, devised by management consultant Craig Mitchell, as part of their interview process.
The criteria and their weighting were:
- Leadership and cultural development (of the team, the football department and the club): 25 per cent
- Personal qualities: 15 per cent
- Management ability: 15 per cent
- Technical ability: 20 per cent
- Coaching history: 10 per cent
- Ability to communicate: 10 per cent
- Commercial appeal (such as brand focus and ability to relate to members): 5 per cent
Cook says the modern coach needs to have a deep understanding of the game and how it has evolved, and how tactics can affect outcomes, but with assistant coaches assuming increased responsibility and workload - and the fact there are more assistants than ever - the senior coach must be able to spread himself further.
“The first three weighting categories (leadership, personal and management) account for more than 50 per cent of what you are looking for in a coach,” Cook said.
“Some people might say 20 per cent is low for the technical side and while it’s important to get a coach who can read the play, understand tactics and so on, what we are saying is a coach now has to have the ability to lead and manage people to collective outcomes.
“His ability to manage his coaching team and influence the support staff around him and his players is paramount. By and large, the assistant coaches do a lot of the technical work now.”
It’s a stark contrast to the position Cook was in 21 years ago when he took over as CEO of the West Coast Eagles. The club appointed Mick Malthouse as senior coach to replace John Todd and gave him one part-time assistant coach to work with.
“The era back then was having technically competent people who had the ability to inspire players,” Cook said.
“Fast track 21 years and they [senior coaches] need a lot of skills. Simply being able to inspire and having an understanding of the game is not enough. We [Geelong] have eight assistant coaches now … that means you can spread the load.”
The weighting system can be applied to prospective coaches at any level and Geelong, as one of the AFL’s most successful clubs in recent years, has varied the interview process to suit its needs.
However, Cook was quick to dismiss any notion that the greatest key indicator of all football clubs - the win-loss column - would be compromised under the weighting system.
“When we give Chris his key performance indicators later in the year, on-field performance still rates No.1 and that won’t change,” Cook said.
“Every club would be different. Some clubs might put 50 per cent on technical and that’s fine. But given the situation of our club with its senior player group and a lot of youngsters, as well as 110 support staff, the cultural, leadership and management aspects are really important.”
The good news for Geelong, according to Cook, is that Scott has embraced the club’s holistic view to the senior coaching role.
“Most of the stuff we do is quite measurable and since Chris has come on board, one thing I have noticed is the improvement in our measurables.
“They are very defined measurables in terms of what we are trying to achieve in lots and lots of areas,” he said.
Interestingly, the Malthouse of 2011 fits very well the model employed by Geelong to appoint Scott, and the Malthouse of 2012, then to be the manager of coaching at Collingwood, will be even closer to the ‘weighting’ used by Geelong without the game day responsibility.
