No trade for old men
THE AFL coaching landscape is changing. Right before our eyes.

It used to be that senior coaching experience was the most valued criterion for any club on the lookout for a new 'messiah'.

North Melbourne did not recruit Ron Barassi in 1973 for the colour he could bring to Arden Street with his lairy suits; the two premierships he'd delivered as Carlton coach held far more appeal.

In the same way, Carlton targeted 1978 Hawthorn premiership coach David Parkin at the end of 1980. Just as, more recently, Collingwood snared two-time West Coast premiership coach Mick Malthouse at the end of 1999, St Kilda dual Adelaide premiership coach Malcolm Blight at the end of 2000 and Carlton two-time North Melbourne premiership coach Denis Pagan at the end of 2002. 

A coach did not necessarily need premiership experience to be attractive to clubs either. At the end of 2004, former Western Bulldogs coach Terry Wallace re-started his coaching career at Richmond, as did former Sydney Swans coach Rodney Eade at the Bulldogs.

But, today, senior coaching experience suddenly appears on the nose. Despite the raft of job vacancies on offer recently, Eade and departed Adelaide coach Neil Craig seem only to have been seriously considered for senior assistant roles.

Of the four coaches recently appointed, just new Fremantle coach Ross Lyon has senior experience, having jumped ship at the Saints after five seasons.

And next season just two of the competition's 18 coaches will be in their second AFL coaching position - GWS' Kevin Sheedy (Essendon coach from 1981-2007) and Lyon. Just three of those coaches will have premiership experience - Sheedy, Hawthorn's Alastair Clarkson and West Coast's John Worsfold.

Herald Sun chief football writer Mike Sheahan thinks he knows why experienced coaches are being left on the shelf.

After time in the game's most demanding role, their 'warts' have been exposed for all to see, Sheahan wrote. The warts Sheahan talks of are win-loss records of 60 per cent or worse and "personality quirks". The fact they have been on display for years makes their owners "damaged goods", he wrote.

On the other hand, untried assistant coaches such as Mark Neeld (the new Melbourne coach), Brenton Sanderson (Adelaide) and Brendan McCartney (Bulldogs) offer clubs hope and a fresh start with their "ambition, drive and the promise of success", Sheahan wrote.

Sheahan finished by asking whether the coachless Saints will follow this trend.

We only had to turn to the Herald Sun's back page to read Blight and Wallace urging the Saints to plump for untried Gold Coast assistant Ken Hinkley. And on Sports News First long-time West Coast assistant Peter Sumich said he is considering putting his hand up for St Kilda's job.

But Hinkley and Sumich may have to battle another AFL 'prejudice' if and when they fight for the Saints' job against the experienced (Eade, Port Adelaide premiership coach Mark Williams and former North Melbourne coach Dean Laidley) and inexperienced (expected to include Collingwood assistant Scott Watters and Richmond assistant Leon Cameron).

For just as experienced coaches can be dismissed as damaged goods, it seems so too can assistant coaches who interview for several senior jobs but come up short. Names such as Brian Royal, Chris Bond and Alan Richardson come to mind.

Remember Hinkley went close to landing the Richmond and Geelong coaching roles at the end of 2009, while Sumich was interviewed for Essendon's and Carlton's senior positions at the end of 2007.

All of which means it's never been so hard to become a coach, and to remain one. 

Adelaide reacts to Sanderson appointment
As we note above, Adelaide has followed the current trend of putting its trust in an untried assistant as its next senior coach.

On Thursday, South Australian football identities lined up to have their say on the new Crows coach Brenton Sanderson in The Advertiser.

Port Adelaide great Warren Tredrea used his regular column to admit Sanderson's appointment surprised him.

Tredrea wrote that he had ranked Sanderson "a distant third" in the race to replace Neil Craig, behind West Coast assistant Scott Burns and Crows caretaker coach Mark Bickley.

In addition to thinking Sanderson's failures to land the Port Adelaide and Geelong coaching jobs at the end of 2010 may have hurt his chances, Tredrea wrote that Port's players had had "mixed feelings" about Sanderson when he was a Power assistant in 2006.

Tredrea wrote that Sanderson had been 'raw' but had had "a big impact" on the Power's development program. The former Port skipper also alluded to the fact Sanderson's decision to move to Geelong in 2007 after being given the opportunity to "step up" as Port defensive coach had not gone down well at Alberton Oval.

However, Tredrea acknowledged Sanderson's sound football knowledge, good media and communication skills, and his ability to boost players' confidence. But he wrote that the jury was out on Sanderson's ability to make the tough calls that would inevitably be needed at the Crows.

Former Crows cult figure Wayne Weidemann was more positive about Sanderson's appointment.

Weidemann caused a stir in the City of Churches earlier this season when he labelled Neil Craig's Crows "choirboys". But he told The Advertiser Sanderson would give Adelaide the injection of ruthlessness it needed.

"Adelaide has been bullied around for far too long but Sanderson has left the impression that those days are over," Weidemann said of his former Crows teammate.

"He has got a clear direction of what he wants from this footy club and what he wants from his players - the tough, ruthless and relentless approach with the way he wants them to go about their footy."

If Sanderson didn't know most of the eyes in Adelaide would be on him as Crows coach, he knows now. However, as a born-and-bred Croweater, we suspect he knows full well the scrutiny he can expect in his Crows-centric home town.

'Harvs' gets a byline
The Age did not miss the chance to poke a bit of fun in Stephen Silvagni's direction.

The Carlton great rarely lost his feet when manning champions like Gary Ablett, Tony Lockett and Wayne Carey, but he tripped over his lines at Monday night's All-Australian dinner.

Called on stage to announce the All Australian half-back line, Silvagni referred to first-time selections Robert Murphy and Ben Reid as Robert Harvey and Sam Reid respectively.

As gaffes go, the Reid one was somewhat understandable. Collingwood defender Ben is Sydney Swans forward Sam's older brother.

But it's hard to see how Silvagni confused Western Bulldog veteran Murphy with retired St Kilda champion and two-time Brownlow medallist Harvey.

Murphy took Silvagni's slip of the tongue in the right spirit. Afterwards he joked that he was still not sure he had really made his first All-Australian team.

The jokes continued in Thursday's Age, when Murphy wrote his regular column, his headshot appearing as usual but alongside the byline "Robert Harvey". At the end of the column, the following disclaimer appeared: "Robert Harvey did not write this column nor was he selected on the half-back flank in the All-Australian team this week".

Very droll. But we've come to expect that from Murphy, haven't we?  

Trade whispers
With 14 of the competition's 18 teams now eyeing 2012, it was inevitable that trade talk would intensify.

In the Herald Sun, Jon Ralph reports that the race is on among Victorian clubs to sign homesick Crows forward Jack Gunston. Ralph wrote that Gunston was determined to return to Victoria and had at least five Victorian clubs chasing him, including Hawthorn and North Melbourne. According to Ralph, Gunston is meeting with several of those clubs this week.

The Australian's Greg Denham reports that contracted Carlton midfielder Brock McLean "appears certain to look at options elsewhere with the Blues' blessing" after playing just four games in 2011.

Denham also wrote that out-of-contract North Melbourne small forward Matt Campbell is weighing up an offer to join Hawthorn after having impressed the Hawks with his five-goal haul in their round 20 clash.

In short

Nice picture of the Selwood brothers' mum, Maree, on the front page of Thursday's Herald Sun wearing Geelong and West Coast scarves. With sons Joel (Geelong) and Adam and Scott (West Coast) clashing in this Saturday's second preliminary final, Mrs Selwood confessed her allegiances were with West Coast given youngest son Scott was the only one of the trio yet to taste premiership success.

Ruckman Shaun Hampson has re-signed with Carlton for the next three seasons, The Australian's Greg Denham reports. Best known by some as supermodel Megan Gale's boyfriend, Denham wrote that Hampson had been linked to Richmond and could no longer be claimed by GWS under its uncontracted player concessions. 

Five-time Hawthorn premiership forward Dermott Brereton told WAtoday.com.au that people should not discount West Coast's chances against Geelong this Saturday because of their relative finals inexperience. "A lot of West Coast's kids are playing their first season of finals, but guys like (Darren) Glass, (Dean) Cox, (Daniel) Kerr, (Andrew) Embley and (Beau) Waters have played in plenty of finals," Brereton said. "And the beauty about that is those guys are spread around the filed. A young player playing in the defence only needs to turn around and look 15m behind him and Glass will be there."

Port Adelaide football operations manager Peter Rohde said the club will not trade the No.6 pick in this year's NAB AFL Draft unless it is offered "a deal too good to refuse," The Advertiser reports. "We've said all along we want to rebuild with young players through the draft and our first-round pick is an important one. We don't want to give it away," Rohde said.

The views in this story are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL