SENIOR AFL coaches will discuss the merits of an accreditation system when they meet in Adelaide on Wednesday as part of the 2014 season launch activities.
The annual pre-season get-together of the coaches also doubles as the annual meeting of the AFL Coaches Association and both League chief executive Andrew Demetriou and football operations manager Mark Evans are scheduled to speak.
A sizeable chunk of the meeting has been set aside to discuss pathways into coaching including the idea of some type of accreditation, first mooted last month by Hawthorn coach Alastair Clarkson and which has the strong support of several other senior coaches.
Clarkson argues that coaches should have at least two years of coaching at minor levels before assuming a senior AFL role. The scheme would mirror that required for soccer coaches in the United Kingdom.
He noted that suspended Essendon coach James Hird needed to be accredited to coach his son's under 9's team, but not the Bombers.
"It really concerns me that the game doesn't protect itself in the way, say, the teaching industry does," Clarkson told Fairfax Media.
The coaches will also discuss the decision to limit each club to just one runner in 2014 as part of moves by the AFL to reduce on-field clutter.
