LIKE it or not, for eight clubs we’re one week away from getting on with 2010.

A lot of clubs who have been out of the finals race for a while have already started to think about retirements, recruitment and rejuvenation when it comes to their playing lists.

They’ve had their eyes wide-open to trying to get the best people available and at Port Adelaide, given where we’re positioned, we’re certainly in the market for the best on offer.

We need to renew ourselves and get more help.

One of the most difficult things to do as a coach is broach the subject of retirement with your players.

It’s pretty easy if you come to delist a player that hasn’t been putting in or hasn’t been at the club long and doesn’t have emotional ties both to the club or its supporters.

But at every club there are always quality, long-term players whose time the coaching and football staff have to decide is up.

In my years at Port Adelaide I’ve done this particularly well sometimes, particularly poorly others, but I don’t think I ever get it exactly right for the individual player.

By far the worst experience I had with this was in 2003 when we lost the preliminary final.

Everyone was pretty upset and a day after the game you bring everyone in and basically say, ‘you’re out, see you later’.

Obviously, the match committee had talked it over before but at that stage we felt like that particular group wasn’t the one that was finally going to get us to the premiership.

Naively, I thought I could talk to the players, retire them and then march into the best and fairest ceremony a couple of days later for a good night.

A note to those up and coming young coaches: never, ever sack people before the best and fairest… it just doesn’t work well.

There are knives and almost axes thrown at you whether it’s via a person’s eyes or verbally.

People are upset and rightly so.

It was a really poor way of doing it, but you’re always learning.

I remember Adam Kingsley, one of our current assistant coaches, being involved in that episode prior to the best and fairest and he still reminds me of it now.

I gave him an opportunity between the end of our finals campaign and the last day of list lodgment to pull his socks up, get a bit fitter and show me that he was serious about having an extended career.

To his credit he did and he got a premiership out of it.

The end of the year can also an exciting time for a club... it has to be.

You might have had your disappointments during the season, but it’s always important to project the blue sky ahead.

If you can combine this philosophy with some new players and staff it can regenerate the whole club and sell hope for the upcoming year.

It’s been well publicised that we’re trying to get Damien Hardwick to Port Adelaide and he will be a great boost to the club.

I hear a lot of clubs are now relying on recruitment agencies to select their coaches and football staff.

I think there’s some value in this approach but I don’t think it should be the be all and end all.

A recruitment agency wouldn’t have a clue as to what goes on inside the coaches' box, how a person prepares himself or appreciate an individual’s technical understanding of the game.

If you rely on just one piece of the puzzle I don’t think you’ll get the right result.

What we hear and see in the papers in regard to change within clubs is just the tip of the iceberg right now.

I think there will be major movements in coaching staff given that new appointments have made it less attractive for some incumbent assistant coaches.

I also feel there’s potential for many more player trades this year because of the depth of the draft and the new draft concessions... stay tuned.

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