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Loyal Lion said:
I think his credibility has been hammered, probably unfairly, over the grand final losses.
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I thought it was more his time at Adelaide that caused his stocks to fall. I'm curious to know what dynamics there are with Reid.
 
Loyal Lion said:
He does have his nuances & peculiarities I agree. I think his credibility has been hammered, probably unfairly, over the grand final losses. I think his file has been marked, "never to coach at senior AFL level again". He is a resilient bloke. I really think that he would be a great teacher for young players.

I think that he would help the "the Rockliff's, the Redden's, the Banfield's, the Harwood's" develop their games.

The mullet would have to go though!
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I do agree if there was a choice of Ayers or Choco I would opt for Ayersey. He's experience and achievements are second to non. Other than a premiership next to his name his record stacks up better than some of the current coaches of AFL teams. He is less abrasive than Choco, has shown to have better people management skills and taking Geelong to two losing grand finals is equally important in lessons to be learned than winning one. Sometimes you learn more from failure, in his instance why he lost the Grand Finals and did not achieve the ultimate when it was within his grasp?

He won' be good just with our youngsters. I think the Browns, the Blacks, the Powers will benefit from Ayersey's experience.

He already has had a stint with Essendon, so it may be advisable to give Sheedy a call and get some inside feedback on what he is like with actually working and developing team structures, innovation, game strategies, reaction under pressure etc...

With Choco I get the feeling that Voss will have to watch his back constantly. Choco has made it clear he is too good for an assistant's job, even though he is throwing his name in the hat. At the moment he has no choice as there is dearth of top jobs available.

Anyhow I just think Ayersey will work better with the Vosses, with the Rawlimgses, with the Woewodins etc...
 

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irel said:
Anyhow I just think Ayersey will work better with the Vosses, with the Rawlimgses, with the Woewodins etc...
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Nice touch. :thumbsu:
 
I have asked around with a few guys with some knowledge inside Port and Adelaide.

The general consensus is that we should go with Choco every day of the week. Williams is absolutely fantastic with kids and as far as development goes we could not get a better person. When Port had juniors attend at the club and Choco did sessions they would invariably come away having learned an incredible lot and wondering why no-one had ever told showed them that before. It was also mentioned that Hird and Lloyd both credit Williams with having a huge influence on their development as a young player when he was an assistant to Sheedy for a year or two. He has trouble dealing with the media and club politics but if we just got him into coaching as an assistant then he would really help the club. He might not be at the club that long but he would really help the young players when he was.

Very different story from Adelaide for Ayres. He is very pigheaded and refuses to move on from something that isn't working. It is thought he set back the development of quite a few young Adelaide players like Bock and Rutten by refusing to recognise that they were not working out as forwards. He was intensely disliked by the players and there was almost a player revolt leading up to his being let go.

I value these guys opinions very highly and accordingly I am really hoping now for Williams to come aboard.
 
My biggest concern, as expressed a while ago, is that I get the feeling that Williams is a very jaded man. He looked exhausted when he got the sack. Like the world was just too much for him. And he is a person who gets bitter.

Now, the freedom from responsibility that would come with being a senior coach might be just the tonic for him. But I would be worried that he comes to us as damaged goods, and do we have the ability to repair someone like that?

The reports about Ayres from Port Melbourne are positive, I believe. Am I right in saying that he took them from last to a grand final in 2009?

The other thing in Ayres' favour is that he was one of the people sacked by Knights when he started as Essendon coach!!!
 
There are two different things that I've heard. One is that Williams hammered Rockliff about his engine and Rockliff wasn't happy with the way the question was being asked. Then, when Port offered him a training spot, he told them to get nicked. The second was that Williams asked him one of those questions like "would you run through a brick wall/jump out a window if I asked you to" and Rockliff told him "no" which Williams had a crack at him about.

There are old posts about story 1. Can't find anything about story 2 which makes me wonder if I am confusing Rockliff with someone else.
 

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Can I say that I am not opposed to the appointment of Williams, per se. I would just like the club to make sure that his head is in the right space. He has many things to offer our club but he is also a flawed individual in some respects, who hasn't really had an opportunity to think about where he might have gone wrong. But he's a winner - great record and seems to develop the kids well (although that has stalled somewhat at Port over the past couple of years, from an outsiders' perspective).

Can I suggest that people don't read the "Sack Williams" thread on Port' board if they are looking to make their mind up about Choco. It doesn't make for pleasant reading, if you don't put it in context!
 
I hope we are not limiting our choices to just these two. We probably have explored and interviewed others who have not had media exposure. However if either of these two gentleman get the gig I would support the decision as I am sure now under the current set up a far more responsible and diligent process would have been undertaken before an appointment is made.
Although my personal preference is Ayeres I have respect for Williams' record as well. If Choco is appointed I am sure it will be on merit.
 
My understanding is that the GM of Footy role is meant to be the experienced head to mentor Voss etc, teach him the finer points of man management etc...

I would have thought a new senior assistant coach would be there largely for their game day experience. Voss was tactically questionable this year. I don't know about Ayers, but Choco certainly isn't known for his tactical nous, thus the Laidley appointment.
 
irel said:
However if either of these two gentleman get the gig I would support the decision as I am sure now under the current set up a far more responsible and diligent process would have been undertaken before an appointment is made.
Although my personal preference is Ayeres I have respect for Williams' record as well. If Choco is appointed I am sure it will be on merit.
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I hate process for the sake of process but this is exactly right. You may not necessarily get the best person by following a process. But you add a degree of "defendability" to your decision making, when you follow a transparent and fair process.
 
True TBD but in the box you will have three current or former AFL head coaches and a WAFL head coach. You would think that between them they would have a reasonable chance of working something out. Williams managed to lead a team to three minor premierships, a premiership and a GF loss without the help of Laidley - I am sure he has some idea of what to do. :)

On the interview stuff I take that all with a grain of salt. The aim of what Williams tried to do was to put the young guy off balance to see how they react. To try and get a better insight into their personalities prior to them arriving at the club. There is a lot of difference between that and communicating with them once they are there.

POBT you must be a slow thinker ;) Personally when I had a few months out of the workforce I thought it was plenty of time for some self reflection and enough time to recharge my batteries and work out what I could do better next time. I am not sure you need a whole year out personally especially not if he is coming back to an assistant role.

That whole learning from past mistakes is also something which I probably haven't given Ayres enough credit for with my earlier comments. His time with Adelaide was some time ago now and like anyone you would think he would have learned from the experience and would be careful not to repeat his mistakes. If the reports are good from Port Melbourne he could very well be much the better coach for having gone through the mistakes he made.

Reid has made quite a few decisions I have liked so far and I am still willing to give him the benefit of the doubt no matter which way we go. I am still also hoping that Basset might get a position somewhere with us as well. If that was the case and combined with one of the above guys our coaching panel would suddenly be chock full of talent.
 
As much as I respect and think Basset will be an asset on the coaching panel at Brisbane I'd rather have someone with a local background and knowledge of the Qld. AFL scene. This will bring a balance to the team with plenty of premiership, Brownlow credentialed players/coaches.

This bloke seems the ideal fit for our current needs. I believe acuaguy may have suggested him a month or so back. http://www.aflq.com.au/index.php?id=5&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=213&tx_ttnews[backPid]=4&cHash=1b94cbaede
 
Yeh acuguy first raised him and I picked up that baton in my club review. I think Blair would be an excellent selection for the reserves position that we have and I would also like to see him involved with the academy. If he was interested in the senior position certainly he would be a good candidate and would be an experienced mentor for Voss and one who would be no threat to his position. If we got him onboard I think even in the reserves role he would be an ideal person for Voss to consult with - the elder statesman with massive experience and nothing really to prove and no agendas to push.
 
Quigley said:
POBT you must be a slow thinker ;) Personally when I had a few months out of the workforce I thought it was plenty of time for some self reflection and enough time to recharge my batteries and work out what I could do better next time. I am not sure you need a whole year out personally especially not if he is coming back to an assistant role.
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The guy looked absolutely defeated. I haven't ruled him out - just a bit of caveat emptor is required.
 

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