Who's the worst coach of all time?

[Lord Nicholson]

But the Watson hiring made not a lick of sense in the first place anyway.

(And again, since I can't remember, why did Alves get the flick in the first place?)

 

[Partridge]

Gary Ayres. Took the reigns at two different clubs after Malcolm Blight had built both teams up to reach multiple grand finals (and back to back flags in Adelaide's case) and completely gutted both teams.

Hard to argue with this. For completely destroying the list at two clubs speaks volumes. Add his total incompetence in man management and it's hard to surpass.

 

[Partridge]

Can the Essendon supporters please enlighten me as to why Knights is potentially the worst coach of all time?

1. He's not Kevin Sheedy - and he was his replacement.
2. He's not James Hird - and he became available.

Knights was appointed with a target already painted between his shoulder blades. Was only a matter of time.

 

[Partridge]

Walls was just one of the last traditional coaches. Go down the center, hit the boundary, take some heads off. He knows very little about what it takes to implement a gameplan, and sometimes his rants are more incoherent than that buffoon in Matthews. He was great for that, but as the 90s ended he became vulnerable, and ultimately became an outdated coach with an outdated game direction. A good coach for his era, maybe, but a real shocker these days imo.

And I really can't believe Matthews coach 4 flags with some of the comments he makes. Wow. Epic fail sometimes.

Malcolm Blight told me once (in the Geelong rooms) what it took to be a good coach. No bullshit:

"Good players". My Dad and I quizzed him a bit more but he was adamant that was mostly it. Look at Allan Jeans - a demi-god at Hawthorn but once he got to Richmond without the star players they remained shit. Same with Allan Joyce at Footscray.

 

[Mr Magic]

Vossy would have to be up there from the beginning but time and natural progression will probably save him

 

[Partridge]

Maybe not the worst, but possibly the most stupid. Ken Judge. I will never forget the time the Hawks were 4 goals down at 3/4 time to the Crows at AAMI, and kicking into the breeze in the final term.

Rather than taking a few risks and try to win the game, Judge threw everyone into defence to make sure we didn't lose by 10 goals. Shocker of a coach.

Met a couple of Eagles players during his tenure and let's just say they didn't hold back on their opinions of him, either as a coach or person. One said he was willing to leave Perth even if no else signed him he hated him that much.

 

[Partridge]

I reckon a guy who would take an Irishman who can't play the game into a final rather than playing an actual ruckman would have to be fairly well up there in the coaching lunacy stakes.

Gary Ayres coached a side to a Grand Final. If Chris Scott is a master coach for what he did last year, I don't see how Ayres can be labeled one of the all-time worst.

The stock answer when I ask people more seasoned than myself seems to be Royce Hart.

Who says Scott is a master coach? He did however do one thing Thompson wouldn't - he showed faith in young guys and picked them ahead of veterans. West and Hawkins were preferred to Mooney and Milburn. He played Duncan and Menzel in the finals where 12 months before Thompson wouldn't (and we saw the results).

Ayres inherited a team that made a Grand Final. But we got worse every single year and then he repeated the trick at Adelaide.

 

[Lord Nicholson]

"Good players". My Dad and I quizzed him a bit more but he was adamant that was mostly it. Look at Allan Jeans - a demi-god at Hawthorn but once he got to Richmond without the star players they remained shit. Same with Allan Joyce at Footscray.

Jeans was friggin' old when he got to Richmond. And the dude coach St Kilda to a premiership - that's an exclusive club right there.

Of course you need good players, but no matter how good they are naturally, you can't take them to the top if you're a complete fool.

Quiet, you.

 

[Spanish_Fly]

But the Watson hiring made not a lick of sense in the first place anyway.

(And again, since I can't remember, why did Alves get the flick in the first place?)

If i remember correctly the rumours at the time were that it was a player lead revolt against Alves.

 

[Lord Nicholson]

Who says Scott is a master coach?

The nuffies who leer at PAFC for picking Primus over him, for starters.

 

[Partridge]

If i remember correctly the rumours at the time were that it was a player lead revolt against Alves.

Wonder if it was the same guys who got rid of Blight?