PETER Dean played 248 games as a defender for Carlton between 1984 and 1998, including the 1987 and 1995 premierships. He worked as a VFL assistant coach with the Northern Bullants and the Vic Metro and Vic Country under-18 squads. Dean was the senior coach of the Murray Bushrangers in the TAC Cup in 2006-07, before joining the Western Bulldogs as backline coach for the 2008 season.

Are the assistant coaches competitive among themselves with the carrot of a senior job somewhere down the line?
Everyone is different in their make-up as a person, but if your goal is to be a senior coach of an AFL team, then a competitive attitude is vital.

This attitude, however, needs to be harnessed for the good of the team and club to complete your role as an assistant coach. A professional, thorough and diligent work ethic is first and foremost in your mind.

Competition among assistant coaches is there, but not in a way that is self-centred and detrimental to the team or club.

Bragging rights in say a goalkicking drill, with backs versus forwards, is competitive and the result of this activity can hold bragging rights for at least a week, or longer if the backs beat the forwards.

Dale Morris had some very good form over the pre-season and led the way for a number of weeks, which created some healthy conversations between our forward line coach Paul Williams and myself in our office.

As an assistant coach we are aiming to fulfil the role in which the coach and club has employed us, and that means constantly working towards improving our specified area, while also assisting in the team’s overall performance.

Improving the players in the team – in areas they are strong in, while also improving their deficiencies – is vital and needs to be constantly monitored.

Working with a recruit or new player to improve his game enough to be selected to play AFL football is an area that is very satisfying and is probably more a competition with yourself to assist in his improvement.

Your reputation precedes you in whatever field you choose to work. If you leave no stone unturned to improve your team’s progression towards success, as well as your own knowledge, then you are on the way to earning an opportunity to apply, or come under consideration for a senior coaching role.

As a coach responsible for a particular area (e.g. defence or forward line), how much control do you have of the moves made in that area on match day?
What happens on match day is the result of the planning that happens over the pre-season (game plan, fitness, skills etc), the week-to-week analysis of the opposition you are playing and ultimately, your own team’s form and capabilities.

As line coaches we prepare our own individual areas, monitor them closely and suggest changes to the senior coach Rodney Eade. The senior coach has the right to go with the suggestion or discard it. Rejection of ideas can be frequent, but ideas need to be communicated as they are vital to the outcome of the game.

Players are presented with scenarios pre-game – these are discussed and if the players are well drilled, they can make their own changes on the ground without the coaching staff having to send out the runner. If the match-ups are not satisfactory to the coaching staff, then the runner is sent out to make that change.

There are also situations when the senior coach is occupied with a certain part of the game (involved in the play, talking to a player, talking to the runner etc) and the assistant coaches will have a discussion, refine an idea and then relay that move to the coach. Rodney will say yes or no and we move on to the next segment of the game.

Most moves or scenarios are planned for but thinking quickly on your feet is a vital part of a coaching group’s efficient decision making and a major factor in the ultimate result on the day.

Believe me, 120 minutes of football goes very quickly and the mental drain on coaches – especially the senior coach – can be enormous.

Ageing rapidly (grey hair) and being follically challenged are par for the course in this line of work. The good, however, outweighs the not so good.

EMAIL YOUR QUESTIONS
Do you have something you’ve always wanted to ask a coach? Drop the coaches an email at coachsbox@afl.com.au. Each week, one assistant coach from an AFL club will dip into the mailbag and answer a handful of the best questions.

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