I remember thinking at the end of 2019 the club should have encouraged him to take some extended leave. Like a year away from the game. He seemed burnt-out. The criticism after the selection debacle of the QF seemed to have gotten to him. There's no shame in saying, look we think you're a great coach, but you need some time away to refresh. Then COVID happened. Anyway, my pov is we don't have to be a club that, like most, take an all or nothing approach to their senior coaches. A coach is like any other part of the club: a person. If you have good people at your organisation, you do what you can to support them and don't let them go easily.
Clearly the past two years have been tough on everyone, including AFL coaches. It would take a toll being away from family. And I’m sure that there are a myriad of issues he would have had to deal with on top of the norm purely as a consequence of covid. Wouldn’t blame him at all to walk away for a while.
I do think also that every coach has an expiry date at their club. Renewal is needed. Not just with assistant coaches but also with the main gig. It’s starting to feel that we’ve reached or are reaching that point.