Former North Melbourne coach Denis Pagan has defended his decision to select his son Ryan in 2000, but has opened up on the personal challenges the selection entailed.
Ryan Pagan played three games for the Kangaroos in 2000, when his father was coaching the side, an inclusion that raised eyebrows at the time. He was the 60th pick in the 2000 rookie draft, and amassed 11, nine and eight disposals in his only three appearances at senior level.
Denis, who departed the club in 2002, has revealed the criticism he copped for the call, and admits it marked the beginning of the end for his time at Arden Street.
“It’s a tough assignment when you’re involved in your own family and you’re coaching, and your son wants to play and he has a dream and is performing well,” the dual premiership coach told SEN Breakfast.
“It doesn’t matter what you do because you can’t win. All you can do, and it’s probably one of the tough parts of leadership, is be honest and frank with yourself, and make the best decision you can for your club and for the individual involved. There is no winner in it and so many petty egos and politics are involved. It’s an amazing scenario.
“He [Ryan] played in the seconds for a couple of years and won a best and fairest. He had the ball on a string. Some weeks he was getting 40 touches, and a lot of weeks he was getting over 35, and just putting on performance after performance, and the weight of numbers, but it didn’t matter. There were people who said there was nepotism involved and it was probably the start of the end for me at the Kangaroos as a result of it all.
“I would have preferred him go somewhere else. Terry Wallace at Footscray wanted him at 22 years of age, but the rookie rules didn’t allow him to do that, so it caused massive problems. I remember my son saying to me, I’ve done everything that I need to do, just because I got the same surname, you won’t give me a chance.
“You mark him harder. Then you sit down and have a meal with him every night and the topic comes up and you know you’ve denied him an opportunity and you should have given him a chance earlier and you know you’re harder on him, and at the end of the day, it’s a part of leadership that you have to be firm with.
“I made the call and there were a lot of issues when I made the call, but if you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for everything. I think I made the right decision based on performance. A lot of other people weren’t looking at performance; they were just looking at the surname. You’ll never win.”
A similar situation faces Australian cricket team coach Darren Lehmann, after his son Jake made a century in the Shield competition on the weekend, pushing his claim for a selection in the Ashes squad.
Pagan understands the conundrum Lehmann finds himself in, and believes he needs to look solely at production when making the decision.
“When Jake Lehmann made 103 the other day, the first thing I thought of was, I just hope he gets the same opportunity as other guys in the team,” he said.
“I pity Darren Lehmann because I know the situation he is going to be involved in. It doesn’t matter what he does, there will be Chinese whispers in the background, and you just need to be honest with yourself and judge it on performance.”