Nathan Buckley has taken a close look at all 18 coaches and where they sit heading into the 2023 AFL season.
Placing each coach into a category, Buckley has those at the top ‘Making Hay’ that are here to win now, those just behind ‘Mining for Gold’ as they look to win again, a group next up that are ‘Breaking Ground’, coaches with pressure on them to play finals in ‘Sink or Swim’ and other coaches that are ‘Auctioning and Auditioning’, ‘Rebuilding’ or working with a ‘Clean Slate’.
Check out the categories Buckley has each club under as he gives his verdict on your coach on SEN Whateley.
Making Hay
Geelong, Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane
Mining For Gold
Richmond, Western Bulldogs
Breaking Ground
Carlton, Fremantle, Collingwood, Adelaide
Sink or Swim
Port Adelaide, Gold Coast
Clean Slate
GWS
Auditing and Auditioning
St Kilda, Essendon, West Coast
Rebuilding
Hawthorn, North Melbourne
Making Hay
Chris Scott
13th season, contracted until the end of 2024
“He’s an innovative footy mind I think,” Buckley said.
“He thinks about football in a more considered and different way than almost any other coach I’ve seen in my time. I really admire the way he views it.
“His personal growth has been something I’ve admired from afar, how he’s handled it through times of success and times when he’s been challenged personally.
“I think he’s maintained an evenness of temperament and demeanour that I can only imagine would resonate effectively with his players. There’s no wasting emotion of fighting fights he doesn’t need to fight.
“He’s got a quality squad with talent and experience and from the outside I think the relationship he has with the leadership is so empowering for them.
“Yet I think he maintains his authority through all of that, which is a pretty tough act to balance up.”
Simon Goodwin
Seventh season, contracted until the end of 2024
“I think he’s a connection coach and I think that’s really come through in the last three or four years,” Buckley said.
“They’re a healthy list and I think they’re ready to go, it seems like they’re going to hit the ground running.
“You’re going to believe in 2021 that they were chasing Richmond and potentially Geelong, they had a target to reach and what they ended doing in those last six weeks of 2021 was reach a level even they may not have been able to fathom.
“On the other side of a premiership that can be as tough and as difficult a challenge psychologically as any.
“It is only heading into Round 1 … but it looks like they’re ready to go.”
John Longmire
13th season, contracted until the end of 2025
“He just strikes me as a really solid individual.
“I think he’s a hard man, he would have really solid expectations on what they would deem non-negotiables, two-way running, win your own ball, contribute to team, lose your ego - I think that’s the Sydney ethos.
“These guys have been developed in that mould and have been guided by a guy at the top who has empowered his assistants to drive this philosophy through the group.
“They’ll be okay (coming off a losing Grand Final) because they’ve got so much grit and so much drive.”
Chris Fagan
Seventh season, contracted until the end of 2025
“I don’t know why, but the little tidbits that come out of Brisbane hit my eyeballs more than anywhere else,” Buckley said.
“They seem to be quite an open club, Chris Fagan must be quite an open coach, their media department seems to get access that I don’t see form Sydney for instance and I don’t think I see it from Geelong either.
“Chris Fagan seems to be a guardian angel for these players, he seems someone they lean on and rely on for guidance, support and direction.
“I have no doubt he’ll hit individuals between the eyes if they don’t come along, but the sense I get is that he believes in his people, he gets the best out of his people.
“I don’t know what better you can be as a man-manager than doing that, but the query is around the game plan and how innovative it is and if it’s good enough to get there.
“Personally I think stability is more important than finding a one per cent edge on a game plan shift as such.”
Mining for Gold
Damien Hardwick
14th season, contracted until the end of 2024
“Richmond fascinate me, Damien Hardwick has been there and done that, he’s driven to go again,” Buckley said.
“I think he’s a connection coach who builds commitment to team by celebrating the individuals in it, that’s been the Richmond way through their success of the last six years.
“No one player is ever more important than the team … with a few more pieces to play with it’ll be fascinating.
“Damien Hardwick is going to do what he’s always done and they’re going to do it on the same cultural piece and with a very similar game plan but just double down on it.”
Luke Beveridge
Ninth season, contracted until the end of 2025
“I’ve got him as abrasive, courageous, innovative, stubborn and combative,” Buckley said.
“All of those have positive and negative effects and connotations.
“I really loathe that the focus on the senior coach is right up there because it’s a coaching panel that pulls it together and the leadership in the playing group that is crucial as well.
“The Dogs have some really experienced, solid leaders in that group … but Luke Beveridge seems to be a guy that welcomes that pinnacle position, thrives in that pinnacle position and has had success on it, so it’s hard to move him off that.
“I believe as a senior coach like Luke Beveridge, if he doesn’t believe in your plans, he won’t put you under any illusions, he’ll just put his focus elsewhere.
“I’ll be really interested with how they go (with a tall forward line) … it’ll be fascinating to watch.”
Breaking Ground
Craig McRae
Second season, contracted until the end of 2024
“He’s done exceptionally well, hasn’t he? Exceptionally well,” Buckley said.
“Obviously I have a more intimate understanding of this playing list and this club but I’ve been so impressed with what he’s been able to do.
“He has a new coaching group with (Justin) Leppitsch and (Brendon) Bolton who have come in.
“He has really strong leadership in the playing group, eventually Pendlebury, Howe and Steele Sidebottom will roll out, the challenge will be how do they have players come up from underneath? It looks like they’re handling that pretty well.
“Graham Wright is an exceptional off-field manager and decision maker … what they’ve been able to do in the off-season I think makes them better.
“Can they take the next step? They’ve done exceptionally well to get to 16 wins? They’ve definitely got the heart.”
Michael Voss
Second season, contracted until the end of 2024
“Vossy and Carlton are 12 months in and it’s been an amazing journey,” Buckley said.
“He’s done really well to pull this group together to have the season they had in 2022.
“He’s done it by preaching staying in the moment, focusing on what they can control and the absence of all else.
“They’re going to have to ramp that up and do that even better this year than they did last because the expectations are so much greater than 12 months ago.
“He has the talent, what’s needed is the grit and connection when things aren’t going their way.
“Vossy and his lieutenants, have they been able to build that (plan B) throughout the off-season?”
Justin Longmuir
Fourth season, contracted until the end of 2024
“Freo were exceptional to start the year last season,” Buckley said.
“Their defensive numbers in the first 11 rounds were first-class, not allowing sides to score of turnover, almost at 11 per cent which as number is about half what the competition allows.
“Those numbers jumped off the page as nearly all-time defensive numbers, but in the second half they were nearly bottom four in defending territory and defending scores from turnover.
“It flipped, I don’t know why … I don’t have a real idea of what went amiss.
“The challenge will be how do we get the DNA of the first half of the year (across the 2023 season).
“They’re solid, it’s just a matter of putting their best footy together and that’s going to be a coaching challenge from the get-go because there’s some bloody good teams around them they’ll have to match.”
Matthew Nicks
Fourth season, contracted until the end of 2024
“I don’t know a lot about the guy, I think he presents relatively well in the press,” Buckley said.
“I can only assume his players absolutely believe in him and buy into him.
“The intensity that Adelaide play at for most of the last 18 months (has been impressive).
“They’ve had little blips which you do as a younger team without the connection … but they were still able to come back and raise the fight more and more.
“I’m super impressed with what I’m seeing from the output, effort and endeavour of his team.
“I slate that back tot he culture, environment and rive he and his coaching group are pushing through.
“I’m really interested to see how they go.”
Sink or Swim
Stuart Dew
Sixth season, contracted until the end of 2024
“This has got to be the time,” Buckley said.
“There was definitely a step forward for Gold Coast last year, they broke through because genuinely they’d start okay and then fall away.
“That was buffered to some extent last year, there’s no more or less talent than there has been in the last couple of years.
“Are they more experienced? Have they got more grit? Have they got the wherewithal to handle the inevitable ups and downs or a loss when it’s not expected?
“I don’t have the answers and that’s why it’s sink or swim, I think Stuart Dew has been there long enough … the time to make that jump is now.
“This is where the brutality of the industry stacks up, these two coaches (Dew and Hinkley) and these two football programs (Power and Suns) have the capacity to make finals and they either do or they don’t.”
Ken Hinkley
11th season, contracted until the end of 2023
“Ken Hinkley has his detractors, you’d have to have your head in the sand to not see and hear that, especially over in South Australia,” Buckley said.
“I’ve always looked at him and thought he was an amazing man-manager, he puts his heart and soul into it and I think the connection with his playing group is pretty strong.
“My question is have they moved with the game? Port Adelaide still are a side that flood the forward line, turn the ball over close to their goals and have repeat forward entries. Opposition teams put 18 players in the back 50 when that happens and it’s a really hard way to score.
“The best scoring teams at the moment don’t rely on multiple re-entries and 60 or 70 inside 50s in a game, they allow the ball on coming out a bit … turning the ball over 100 metres out instead of 50, finding the gaps and going into a more open forward 50.
“Have Port Adelaide got the capacity to do that? I think their style is still a little bit old school.
“They win territory and win inside 50s, but it’s not winning them games of footy, that’s the challenge for Port and Ken Hinkley.”
Clean Slate
Adam Kingsley
First season, contracted until the end of 2025
“Adam Kingsley is the one with the cleanest slate,” Buckley said.
“It’s a little bit off broadway, GWS, but they’ve got talent there, both established and youth that are coming through.
“I think they’ve had to grind their way and they’ve got workmanlike players that will do alright.
“But I think (he’ll bring) fresh ideas, a fresh plan, go forward a little bit faster to try and free up the talent a little bit more.
“It’s a fresher voice, it’s a fresh opportunity.”
Auditing and Auditioning
Brad Scott
First season, contracted until the end of 2026
“Ross (Lyon), Brad (Scott) (and Adam Simpson) are auditing and auditioning,” Buckley said.
“They’re auditing what they’ve got on their list and they’re auditioning young players and old to try and crew down parts of what they’d believe is a plan they can build around.
“They’re looking to the second and the third year to build towards challenging for a top four position.
“I don’t think realistic expectations have them anywhere near the top four and if you’re not near the top four then you are building and developing towards that.”
Ross Lyon
First season, contracted until the end of 2026
See above.
Adam Simpson
10th season, contracted until the end of 2024
“I reckon it was the most solid handling of a two-win season that a big club has ever delivered,” Buckley said.
“He and his crew will now be assessing what they have and what they need to go forward.”
Rebuilding
Sam Mitchell
Second season, contracted until the end of 2023
“Ironic isn’t it (that Mitchell is rebuilding and so is Clarkson),” Buckley said.
“They’re as young and as inexperienced of a side as we’ve seen.”
Alastair Clarkson
First season, contracted until the end of 2027
“He has a fresh canvas and low expectations,” Buckley said.
“He only had five wins in his first year at Hawthorn, he’s going to stay the course.
“I think maybe the salary cap at North is really well placed and there’s gaps for him to make moves but he’s got young players who are going to have a crack.”