Former Richmond coach Terry Wallace says Port Melbourne mentor Gary Ayres is being ignored at by AFL clubs due to stepping out of the system at the top level.
Ayres has 10 years experience at the elite level having coached Geelong for five seasons before moving to Adelaide where he led the club until 2004 where he opted to step down.
Speaking on Before the Games, Wallace believes the two time Norm Smith Medallist has been unfairly pigeon holed and is adamant he is a more suitable coaching candidate than other coaches who still remain in the AFL industry.
“It’s been mentioned over recent times that Brendan McCartney might be in the mix. McCartney is 56-years of age, Gary Ayres in 56-years of age. One turns 57 in September and one turns 57 in October,” he said.
“Gary Ayres at 223 games with a 55 per cent winning record at an AFL level is up there with the better records and up with some of the coaches who are still in the industry.
“Brendan McCartney coached 66 senior games and we know he has been at Geelong, Essendon and now Melbourne. His record when he was coaching in his own right was 30 per cent.
“From that point of view he wasn’t a failure at AFL level. He lost jobs, that happens, that’s in the nature the business you are in.
“He has then gone on to show that his level in mind and young enough in mind to coach young players to work underneath him which he has been doing on a regular basis.
“If I look at those two guys I could put an argument equally for Ayresy as what you can for Brendan McCartney. I think that the industry would give Brendan McCartney much more of an opportunity because he stayed in the system where Ayresy has gone to one level down, albeit he had absolute success.”
Ayres will look to lead the Borough to a second premiership when they take on Richmond in the VFL Grand Final on Sunday at Etihad Stadium.