Brendan mcCartney at peace with exit from Western Bulldogs

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/af...e4a3da28622456

BRENDAN McCartney leafed through the pages of books he hadn’t read for a decade to help find the answers.

The soul searching was confronting.

After almost 30 years in coaching, the man regarded as one of the game’s best teachers of young men and most astute football minds realised he had become too harsh and perhaps closed off with the Western Bulldogs players before he was moved on in late 2014.

And only now, in his third season at Melbourne, is McCartney ready to talk publicly about what he learnt from his difficult departure.

“It was at a time in my life where I was just probably hellbent on doing things and playing a certain way, which made me borderline stubborn and probably overly stern, and abrupt,” McCartney said.

“People would have questioned that I probably wasn’t listening intently enough.

“Previously, I had never shied away from being honest with a player or a team and explaining what I have seen, but it was always coupled with a supportive solution and an investment of time in that player or group.

“It dawned on me that that empathetic side had dropped out of my coaching. And I’m not proud of that.”

In the weeks after his resignation, McCartney headed to Barwon Heads, exercised more, and combed back through his personal library for passages in books he first highlighted in 1996, re-energising him for the next chapter of his career at Melbourne.

In particular, there was Marva Collins’ Way about a trailblazing Chicago schoolteacher and The Obstacle is the Way, about overcoming adversity.

Now, he is at peace with the exit from the kennel.

McCartney watched the Dogs’ Grand Final triumph last September in awe of some of his former charges and the brilliant job Luke Beveridge’s coaching staff had done orchestrating one of the most famous against-the-odds victories in the game’s history.

“They won a flag the hardest way possible with just incredible commitment to one another and intensity and it seemed to fuel enormous self belief within them,” McCartney said.

“So, I have nothing but absolute respect for what Luke has done, because clearly he is an outstanding football person and manager of men.

“Yes, there is a sense of pride in that for me, but the club made some decisions and whether you agreed with them or not, they have been proven to be correct.

“I know in my heart that so much was done right (in 2012-14), but I got some things wrong at the end of it, and that’s not other people — I got some things wrong.

“So you’ve got to be man enough to look yourself in the eye and own those mistakes and get to work and that is what I spent the past couple of years doing.”

At Melbourne, he was enticed by the prospect of teaching the eager young ball-winners the fundamental art of extracting the Sherrin from a stoppage. And as one former colleague put it this week: “Brendan teaches the contested ball battle as well as anyone in the game. Spacing, positioning, movement, technique, everything. He knows how to teach players to win the footy.”

“Some things in the game will remain the same, and for me, you will always have to be able to create a contest and handle a contest,” McCartney said.

“Players have all been trained to perform at a high intensity in a 20m radius which means the collisions in there now are even more intense.

“I don’t see too many premierships won at a decent level of footy if you haven’t got intensity and competitiveness because otherwise the talent will never flourish.

“But the two years I have had at Melbourne have been fun, they have been reassuring, reaffirming, and what they have done has reminded me of what I can do when I coach, and the impact that I can have as a person. I didn’t feel like that when I left the Dogs.

“I feel like I am valued at Melbourne and there is a big box of knowledge there that I can use to help and people can take whatever they like out of it.

“At 56, I have a love and passion for coaching. It has been tested, but it is stronger than ever.”

Clearly, he helped mould some of the Dogs’ gun young midfielders, just as his teachings around aerial defence, clearance method and triangle patterns remain legendary among triple-premiership Geelong players such as Cameron Ling, Joel Corey and Jimmy Bartel.

I'm at peace with BMac's exit from the Bulldogs as well ;)

Brave of him to say, but he's still got a narrow focus with contested ball

Bevo sees the bigger picture

Thank god we kept him two years longer than we should have.

A lot of fans hate him but I Totally agree with his summation of himself and he did start this era . I respect his knowledge and his eye for talent and ability ., it was just his communication that broke down he lost the players and that happens to all coaches eventually . I don't believe he is a head coach but maybe one of the best at building a team.

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Originally Posted by boydogs

Brave of him to say, but he's still got a narrow focus with contested ball

Bevo sees the bigger picture

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I think that's his strength as a specialist developer of players, and his ultimate weakness as a senior coach. He may have lasted longer with a balanced group of players all willing to take on a different way of playing the game, though he didn't have that and couldn't manage who he had effectively.

I'm glad he and elements of the playing group were cleaned out when they were, it was a watershed moment for our club that ultimately resulted in a premiership.

That's nice

Wow, I have worked with many people over the years who would never come out and admit they wrong in aspects of their work culture. And to do it publicly. I guess that's why he is so respected.

Meh......

I'm not a fan of some of the disrespect Macca gets. He was a part of the longer journey that culminated in a flag and he's right, there was a lot of good to go with the failings.

I think of Macca as one of those proper, stern old Grandads. You don't appreciate them while they're there but once they're gone you realise you're better off for some of the lessons they left.