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Western Bulldogs to part ways with backline coach Rohan Smith

Western Bulldogs legend Rohan Smith is on the way out of Whitten Oval as the club revamps its coaching structure under Luke Beveridge from next season.

Jay Clark


Western Bulldogs’ favourite son Rohan Smith will not be part of the club’s assistant coaching panel in a surprise change for next season.
The Dogs’ back line coach has been told his contract will not be renewed as part of a big adjustment to Luke Beveridge’s coaching staff for next season.
Clubs have to notify their coaching staff in August about whether they will be employed for next season in an effort to help coaches plan for the following year.
[PLAYERCARD]Rohan Smith[/PLAYERCARD] with Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge in 2020. Picture: AAP Image/Michael Dodge.

Rohan Smith with Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge in 2020. Picture: AAP Image/Michael Dodge.
But the call has taken many by surprise at the kennel as Smith, who was part of the 2016 premiership, is one of the most popular and respected figures at the club.
Smith, who played 300 games for the Dogs – the seventh most in the club’s history – has been coaching at the club for 12 years.
Senior coach Luke Beveridge has lauded Smith’s contribution to the premiership and his work with the defenders and young developing prospects for more than a decade.
It means Smith’s contract at the club will end in October. He will continue to coach the team for the rest of the season including the potential finals campaign.
[PLAYERCARD]Rohan Smith[/PLAYERCARD] chats to [PLAYERCARD]Marcus Bontempelli[/PLAYERCARD]. Picture: Michael Klein.

Rohan Smith chats to Marcus Bontempelli. Picture: Michael Klein.
Some coaches have walked away from their duties after being given notice but Smith has told the club he wants to continue to help support and guide the players for the rest of 2023.
Smith, 50, has been back line coach between 2013 – 2016 and 2020-2023.

In between those two stints he was development manager and started out as skills coach in 2012.
It followed a decorated career where the half back was dual All-Australian.

​

The AFL Coaches Association is campaigning hard with the league to help bolster contract termination clauses for coaches to help provide them more protection.
The Coaches’ Association also wants to develop a transition fund to help provide opportunities for coaches who have been in the system for a long time to move into new jobs.
It is unknown if Smith wants to continue coaching at another club next year after more than 30 years in the game.
 

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Dazb86 said:
Hard not to like Rohan Smith. Hopefully it's the right call
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I don’t mind the call in isolation I think time is up for Smith unfortunately (it does suck though, he’s a legend), but it seems unlikely we’re going to change all 3 line coaches with Spangher & Webb too and those two definitely need to go, so leaves me a bit concerned for what happens in the off season
 
Dazb86 said:
Hard not to like Rohan Smith. Hopefully it's the right call
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Agree. He's the quintessential Bulldog nice guy, terrific club stalwart and was a damned good footballer too. One of my favourite players in his day.

But that's been our gripe here hasn't it? Too many nice guys, not enough campaigners = empty trophy cabinet?

Let's not replace him with a nice guy. Let's get a few hard nosed uncompromising campaigners driving our footy department.
 
doggies ftw said:
I don’t mind the call in isolation I think time is up for Smith unfortunately (it does suck though, he’s a legend), but it seems unlikely we’re going to change all 3 line coaches with Spangher & Webb too and those two definitely need to go, so leaves me a bit concerned for what happens in the off season
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We don't know that though. Smiffy is just the first one that's been leaked/announced. There have also been whispers about the other two, although I don't know if that's just been wishful fantasising.

I'd be very happy to see us go bang bang bang and replace all three (since the BIG bang theory seems to be out of the question).
 
The article said " as the club revamps its coaching structure under Luke Beveridge from next season" and "will not be renewed as part of a big adjustment to Luke Beveridge’s coaching staff" ............... so hopefully there is more changes than just Smithy.

"Big Adjustments" are needed and not just the backline coach.
 
dogwatch said:
We don't know that though. Smiffy is just the first one that's been leaked/announced. There have also been whispers about the other two, although I don't know if that's just been wishful fantasising.

I'd be very happy to see us go bang bang bang and replace all three (since the BIG bang theory seems to be out of the question).
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Yeah agreed I’d go all 3 of them too but just seems unlikely we’d make that big of a change - you’d think we’d get some interest from aspiring senior coaches considering they’re definitely only seeing out max 2 years of Bevo before a change would be well overdue, or possibly less if shit hits the fan
 
I played a lot of junior footy with Rohan for the mighty Kingsville Killas (now part of Yarraville Seddon Eagles). We even won an under 9’s premiership at the Western Oval in 1981 playing the full oval. He, like myself were big bulldogs fans even back then. My family moved to a new home out at Hoppers and Kingsville were struggling to fill junior teams so he moved onto YarraBoys. We went our separate ways but I always followed his career because he was the best from day one, winning multiple FDFL competition best and fairests. He has been blessed with an amazing lifestyle from the football club for a long time so I hope he is very grateful and we have been lucky to have such a loyal servant. This is the right time for new voices in the coaching ranks.
 
Libba39 said:
Aren't you confusing the roles of the board and the Football department?

In any organisation boards these days it is very common (as well as best practice) to have a diverse group who can be completely objective.

Just my experience, but I work at a government body tied to a particular industry. People who worked previously in this industry make terrible managers! 🙄.

So personally in regard to the bulldogs board I don't care if they played 300 games or ran the canteen at the Upper Kumbucta West under 9s game.
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The board must also be able to scrutinise the different departments, yes? How can they scrutinise the football dept if they have no knowledge of how it should run etc? That's my read of the situation anyway.
 
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Love bubba but 100%% the right time to move him on after being there so long. Really hope spangher and Webb are replaced too with a mix of another good experienced assistant and a recently retired smart footy brain.

Reality is our coaching panel is nowhere near stacked with the quality that the vast majority of other clubs are.
 

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doggies ftw said:
I don’t mind the call in isolation I think time is up for Smith unfortunately (it does suck though, he’s a legend), but it seems unlikely we’re going to change all 3 line coaches with Spangher & Webb too and those two definitely need to go, so leaves me a bit concerned for what happens in the off season
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Didn't someone say Webb is leaving at the end of the year?
 
jdz101 said:
Genuinely surprised spangher wasn't the first one affected.
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For what it’s worth Libba was interviewed on SEN last week or the week before and he was complimentary of Spangher. Said he was a good forwards coach or words to that effect. What was surprising was that he volunteered the information, the interviewee did not ask him specifically about Spangher
 
In Repair said:
For what it’s worth Libba was interviewed on SEN last week or the week before and he was complimentary of Spangher. Said he was a good forwards coach or words to that effect. What was surprising was that he volunteered the information, the interviewee did not ask him specifically about Spangher
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Quite a lot of the players are full of praise for the Spang.
I do think we should be getting new assistants in fairly regularly. Given we've lost Bubba and likely lose Webb this year, two seems a decent number to get two new assistants in and get some fresh perspectives.

We'd have to spend up to get a good defensive line coach in considering JOD and Buss are incredibly raw, Gardner is teachable but still needs work, and we're likely to start transitioning to a new BP on the post-Duryea era.
I would note Cleary too but to my eye he seems a more 'natural' footballer and just needs more physical development.
 
The players liking Spangher is fine (though what else are they meant to put on record?). But it should be results based.

My issue with the hire was that it reeks of nepotism (Bevotism?) and that our forward line has been to my eye shambolic since he took over - and there’s a lot of talent at his disposal there.

That being said it would be interesting to see a statistical comp of our forward line in the couple of years before he took over and the couple of years since. Could be much ado about nothing, like the Gia hate from back in the day. Pretty ballsy to make a no coaching experience hire when you’re trying to compete get a flag, and other coach’s boxes are stacked in comparison.

(Fwiw not pinning all our woes on the spangher boogie man, just that I think it’s emblematic of the grip Bevo has over this club/soft cap issues caused by his contract).
 
In Repair said:
For what it’s worth Libba was interviewed on SEN last week or the week before and he was complimentary of Spangher. Said he was a good forwards coach or words to that effect. What was surprising was that he volunteered the information, the interviewee did not ask him specifically about Spangher
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If our forwards had kicked a little more accurately and therefore we had won some more games I wonder what our view of Spangher would be?
 
Dog 36 said:
If our forwards had kicked a little more accurately and therefore we had won some more games I wonder what our view of Spangher would be?
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TBH our biggest issue is defence, not attack.
We're near the bottom for scoring chains launched from the back half, in a team with Dale, Richards, JJ in it for big chunks of the year. Unacceptable
 
Dog 36 said:
If our forwards had kicked a little more accurately and therefore we had won some more games I wonder what our view of Spangher would be?
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Shouldn't the forwards coach have some responsibility for goal kicking accuracy from the forwards?

That's a genuine question btw, I'm really not sure how much should be assigned to the players themselves or whether or not it should be something that the forwards coach has as their top priority to resolve - however that can be done (lobbying for a specialist goal kicking coach, more/different training etc.).

While I'm not laying a lot of the blame for the issues in our performance at Spangher's door (the head coach has to take ultimate responsibility for that), regardless of goal kicking accuracy we have had major issues with multiple forwards leading to the same place and/or jumping into each other way too much. It's improved in recent weeks, but in the first few games of the year it looked like they hadn't worked on leading patterns and spacing the f50 at all during preseason.

I'm also not entirely sure it's that difficult to resolve (although I admittedly am just a nuffie fan watching the games) - watch virtually any Geelong game and see how Hawkins and Cameron lead, who often also create space for Rohan to lead into, with Stengle and Close positioning themselves for the crumb rather than also flying at the ball. I know it's not as simple as sitting them down in front of a few hours of game tape, but it should be a lot better than it is - even though they are a young forward line.

Midfield delivery is also an issue that obviously affects forward line effectiveness, which they're not in control of, but I bet a decent chunk of our mids could find targets more frequently inside 50 if the spacing was better and more consistent.
 
hutchy31 said:
Shouldn't the forwards coach have some responsibility for goal kicking accuracy from the forwards?

That's a genuine question btw, I'm really not sure how much should be assigned to the players themselves or whether or not it should be something that the forwards coach has as their top priority to resolve - however that can be done (lobbying for a specialist goal kicking coach, more/different training etc.).

While I'm not laying a lot of the blame for the issues in our performance at Spangher's door (the head coach has to take ultimate responsibility for that), regardless of goal kicking accuracy we have had major issues with multiple forwards leading to the same place and/or jumping into each other way too much. It's improved in recent weeks, but in the first few games of the year it looked like they hadn't worked on leading patterns and spacing the f50 at all during preseason.

I'm also not entirely sure it's that difficult to resolve (although I admittedly am just a nuffie fan watching the games) - watch virtually any Geelong game and see how Hawkins and Cameron lead, who often also create space for Rohan to lead into, with Stengle and Close positioning themselves for the crumb rather than also flying at the ball. I know it's not as simple as sitting them down in front of a few hours of game tape, but it should be a lot better than it is - even though they are a young forward line.

Midfield delivery is also an issue that obviously affects forward line effectiveness, which they're not in control of, but I bet a decent chunk of our mids could find targets more frequently inside 50 if the spacing was better and more consistent.
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Nope forwards coach is there for forward structure and set up and has no different skills for kicking techniques than any other coach

What we should be doing is getting a Lloyd or Dunstall type in to show the boys proper technique
 
Foxman98 said:
Nope forwards coach is there for forward structure and set up and has no different skills for kicking techniques than any other coach

What we should be doing is getting a Lloyd or Dunstall type in to show the boys proper technique
Click to expand...

They should get a specialist kicking coach to cover both kicking at goals and general field kicking.

We need to address the above as we are shocking at both.

Some players kicking skills e.g B.Smith have gone on and on without been addressed.
 
Dog 36 said:
If our forwards had kicked a little more accurately and therefore we had won some more games I wonder what our view of Spangher would be?
Click to expand...
The comments about Spangher here have mainly been about what seems to be a chaotic forward line with no clear system or discipline. Accurate kicking always helps but doesn't change what precedes it. (It may have improved in recent weeks, but let's first see how long that stands up.)

Whether that's all on Spangher - or whether it's even a fair call - is a subject we'll continue to debate. The whole forward thing is organically linked to how we rebound and how we play in the midfield so there will always be different perspectives.

A related point that people make on Spangher is no fault of his own - and that is how he was appointed to the role and why we got someone with no obvious credentials when there would appear to be far better options around. Spangher probably cops a bit of unwarranted backwash from this aspect of it.
 
Unorth said:
The players liking Spangher is fine (though what else are they meant to put on record?). But it should be results based.

My issue with the hire was that it reeks of nepotism (Bevotism?) and that our forward line has been to my eye shambolic since he took over - and there’s a lot of talent at his disposal there.

That being said it would be interesting to see a statistical comp of our forward line in the couple of years before he took over and the couple of years since. Could be much ado about nothing, like the Gia hate from back in the day. Pretty ballsy to make a no coaching experience hire when you’re trying to compete get a flag, and other coach’s boxes are stacked in comparison.

(Fwiw not pinning all our woes on the spangher boogie man, just that I think it’s emblematic of the grip Bevo has over this club/soft cap issues caused by his contract).
Click to expand...

Results are our 3 main forwards are having career best seasons. Add some more accurate kicking and they’d be close to the best in comp.

Spangher still a spud or Spangher going ok??
 
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