All the elements seemed to be in place for David Teague when he was installed as the permanent coach of Carlton with two games remaining in 2019.
Teague became interim coach of the Blues midway through the season and oversaw five wins from nine games before the ‘interim’ was removed from his job title.
His most impressive win was his first – against finals-bound Brisbane – while subsequent wins came over Fremantle, Sydney and Adelaide, none of which would make the finals. But given the Blues had just one win before then, it could rightly be argued that Teague had momentum on his side and had reversed Carlton’s sliding fortunes.
Teague also had support from three key stakeholder units. The players. Tick. Past players (of which he was one). Tick. And supporters. Tick. The Teague Train had left the station and the board felt it had no choice but to climb aboard.
But in taking the popular option, instead of what might have been the best, the Blues fell into the same trap that several clubs have before them. They followed their heart and not their head.
In 1997, Jeff Gieschen replaced the unpopular Robert Walls (Tiger conspiracy theorists still maintain he was a Carlton plant!) with five games remaining and the wins started to come. Before the final game, the cheer squad was on board with an ‘Unleash the Giesch’ message planted on one side of the banner. When the Tigers knocked the Blues out of the finals that afternoon, the board had seen enough and gave the job to Gieschen on a permanent basis. Two years later they were looking for another new coach.
When Terry Wallace advised the Bulldogs he was moving on at the end of 2002 – he thought he had the Sydney job locked away – the Dogs asked him to finish up with one game remaining. Peter Rohde took over and after a huge win over eventual Grand Finalist Collingwood to finish the season, Rohde was almost immediately given the job on a permanent basis.
He too, was out of a job two years later after an internal review found he had failed to meet several of his deliverables.
Rhyce Shaw was also anointed as permanent senior coach of North Melbourne in late 2019 at around the same time as Teague won the job at the Blues and he lasted just one full season. Shaw was dealt a lousy hand during a pandemic-affected season, but the process to appoint him wasn’t thorough enough and the Kangaroos found themselves looking for a new coach twice within 15 months. Thankfully, they appeared to have nailed their selection this time around.
Brett Ratten replaced Alan Richardson and steered the Saints into the finals last year before a stumble in 2021. But he has the advantage of this being his second stint as an AFL senior coach. He knew what he was getting into.
The one interim coach who then worked out in the long term was Paul Roos. He stood in for Rodney Eade midway through 2002 and overwhelming player and fan support meant the club had no choice but to scupper plans to replace Eade with Wallace. Roos took the Swans to the finals every year but one, including the drought-breaking 2005 flag.
But that’s the one. By and large, elevating interim coaches into the role on a permanent basis has not really worked.
With five clubs having coaches entering the final year of their contracts next year, recent history would suggest there is likely going to be at least one that will require an interim coach to complete the season.
That being so then the way forward for those clubs is clear. Thank the interim coaches for their service come the end of the season and … look elsewhere for the next permanent coach.