AFL.com.au's Emily Patterson was granted inner sanctum access for Sydney's trip to Perth for the top-of-the-table clash against Fremantle
SYDNEY assistant Mark McVeigh says he has not investigated the head coach vacancy at Essendon nor those at Carlton and Tasmania, despite harbouring ambitions to be a senior coach one day.
McVeigh is one of the most highly-rated assistant coaches in the game, and AFL.com.au was this week granted inner sanctum access for Sydney’s trip to Perth for a firsthand look at how he and the Swans operate.
The former Bomber has been linked with a return to his former club to replace Brad Scott but despite his long-term ambitions, he says he has not chased any current openings.
Although he adds that even if he had, he would keep his cards close to his chest while he remains focused on Sydney's September ambitions.
"No, not really, to be honest," McVeigh told AFL.com.au when asked if he had looked into any of the three current vacancies.
"And to be fair, if I had, I probably wouldn't say too much.
"I don't really attest to the lists that you see in the media. I don't often think they're true, and often they're not if you look at history.
"For me, I don't really comment on the process. I think that's something that, if it does happen, you keep to yourself, go along quietly, and do what you need to do."
McVeigh, who played 232 games for the Bombers before taking on coaching roles at both Sydney clubs, remains focused on his long-term development to prime himself for future opportunities.
Before the top-of-the-table clash against Fremantle, AFL.com.au was allowed into McVeigh's line meeting with the Swans defensive group on the eve of the game.
With the conference table in a small meeting room inside the team hotel replaced by massage tables, the defensive unit shuffled in alongside McVeigh, who manages the backline and team defence, performance analyst Phoebe Carter, and, for a short period, senior coach Dean Cox.
While players and coaches do extensive work during the week with a comprehensive full-squad review and training sessions, this brief 20-minute window serves as the ultimate tactical blueprint to narrow the focus on Fremantle's forward profile and specific match-ups.
"What we want to try and do is narrow our focus," McVeigh said following the Swans' captain’s run at Optus Stadium on Wednesday.
"There's a lot of vision during the week which covers all areas — whether it's offence, defence, or contests — and every player is impacted by that vision. But the main objective for our line meeting is to narrow our focus on what we have to do specifically as a backline.
"The meeting is just to go, 'OK, we've done that. We understand what we want to do in the contest. We understand what we want to do at stoppages. We know what they're going to do when they bring it out of their back half. Now let's focus on what they do when they bring the footy forward, how it impacts us, and what we need to do.'"
To achieve this, McVeigh uses several clips to contrast the Dockers' forward-line strategies with footage of how the Swans rehearsed their counter-tactics at training, allowing players to lock in their roles and visualise their positioning.
"Because it's the day before, it's fresh in their minds," he said.
"They can run out there and go, 'OK, I've seen this before. I know what it is. I saw this yesterday; this is what they're going to do.'"
The players seat themselves around the room, with some breaking out notebooks and pens, with veteran Dane Rampe humorously requiring several to get going. While the atmosphere is relaxed, some of the younger players keep very quiet.
"Generally, my line group is quite experienced, so they are pretty relaxed. That's standard for us most weeks, even with the high stakes of this match on the ladder," McVeigh said.
The group features 1,155 games of AFL experience and is anchored by captain Callum Mills and Rampe, both of whom are very vocal and unafraid to stand in front of the group to share their input.
"You've got to lean on those experienced players," McVeigh said.
"A lot of coaching those older players is just aligning them with what we're trying to do. To their credit, if they believe in it, they help you push the message, which is great because they are just so connected.
"You can tell that Dane's really detailed and wants to know exactly what you want, even down to whether he needs to move five metres or three metres to be where you need him to be. That creates great debate, and that's what you're after — you want to debate a point to come to a common outcome, which obviously we did."
The presence of veteran players stands in stark contrast to 10-gamer Will Edwards and 18-year-old Harry Kyle, who was preparing for his fifth. Despite their lack of experience, both have been handed big assignments for the 1 v 2 clash: Edwards is tasked with helping to shut down Fremantle's three talls, while Kyle is given the responsibility of containing the dangerous Sam Switkowski.
While the youngsters are quiet during the meeting, McVeigh said the key is making sure they understand their roles so they feel comfortable and confident.
"We have a lot of touch-points throughout the week, and this is a little bit more streamlined and filtered down towards the game," McVeigh explained.
"They will sit quietly and listen, but quite often, a player like Harry Kyle will come up to me and go, 'Can you just clarify a couple of things for me?' We'll then sit down together so he gets a bit more one-on-one time to process.
"There's a heap of follow-up off the back of that. It's not just (a case of) 'that's the meeting, and that's it'. We'll touch base again briefly before the game. We encourage our younger players, and they're good at speaking up if things go too quickly or if they need to see more, and as coaches, you've got to be ready for that."
With the back seven plus emergency Lewis Melican absorbing information differently, McVeigh tailored his approach to suit each player's learning style.
"As you would have heard me say in there, 'If you don't understand, please come and see me'. A lot of them write things down — 'Ramps' (Rampe) definitely ran through a few pens — whether it's exactly what I'm saying, parts of it, or a question they might have for me at the end," McVeigh said.
"Some players don't feel comfortable speaking up in front of everyone. A younger player might think, 'I don't really want to ask that question because I feel like I'll sound silly', which is never the case, and we hope they don't feel like that. But just like it happened today, often they'll say, 'I wrote this down, Mark, and I wanted to ask you about it. Can you help me with that?'. If you give them all three options — writing things down, asking questions during the meeting, or coming to see you afterwards — you usually cover yourself pretty well."
Looking ahead to his own future, McVeigh makes no secret that his head coaching ambitions are very much alive.
Though settled in Sydney, he and his family may eventually face a call on whether to uproot their lives for a job. For now, however, his focus remains firmly locked on personal development.
"I definitely hope to be a senior coach one day," McVeigh said, pointing to his near-decade of work at Greater Western Sydney, with development and academies, and his nearly four years with Sydney.
"The end result is hopefully to become a senior coach in the near or distant future, for sure."
As part of his advancement, McVeigh is participating in the AFL's Elite Coach program — which replaced the Level Four program that ran from 2015 to 2023 — to fast-track the league's top assistant coaches. The revised initiative has helped up-skill senior leaders, including former Melbourne coach and current Sydney director of coaching and performance Simon Goodwin.
"From there, you keep your head down and keep working, and if opportunities come your way you look at them," he said.
"It's really important that I continue to test myself in those areas... and be ready when the time comes."