Quiet coach with a Bulldog's tenacity

[Greystache]

BRENDAN McCartney describes himself as a simple soul who relishes returning from the Western Bulldogs headquarters each evening to his home on the grounds of Geelong Grammar School at Corio.

The AFL's oldest new coach -he is 51, just 2½ years younger than his predecessor Rodney Eade - finds solace in the relative anonymity that comes with living on a boarding school campus where his wife Kirsty is head of Clyde House and where the youngest two of his five children attend school.

For many years Kirsty was the only person who knew of his coaching ambitions. To coach an AFL club, despite just 87 senior games for Newton in the Geelong Football League, lingered for more than a decade in the back of his mind but he never spoke about it to anyone else, believing that to be told he was dreaming could prove crushing.

The Geelong hierarchy, where McCartney spent 12 successful years from 1999 after a brief introduction to the AFL under Jeff Gieschen at Richmond, certainly did not see the highly rated football teacher as a senior coach but rather a long-term prospect as head of the football academy he had established at the Cats.

The pivotal detour in the Cats' plan came when McCartney wondered aloud to Mark Thompson about applying for the Port Adelaide senior position at the end of 2010. Kirsty had encouraged him but then Thompson told him: ''Go for it. You can coach, you know the game, go for it.''

The interviews went well and despite missing out, McCartney's confidence continued to grow. ''Having less to do with the AFL team at Geelong,'' explained McCartney, ''and then meeting James [Hird in October 2010] at Essendon and seeing that something special was happening there, made my mind up to leave. But it was a very big decision after 12 years at the club and all we'd achieved from where we'd started.

''It was a really difficult thing to look Brian Cook in the eye - to face Brian and Neil Balme man-to-man and tell them I was going. Cookie was just a great boss and great person but the day 'Bomber' told me to go for it at Port just gave me the confidence to give it a try.''

McCartney understands the paradox in his insistence upon being a simple man, given senior AFL coaches tend to be anything but. Already the complexities of his new role -he was a surprise appointment at the Western Bulldogs in September - have taken him aback on occasion.

He spoke recently with fellow rookies Scott Watters and Mark Neeld and all three agreed that the corporate demands of their new roles had tested them. McCartney lunched at Cape Schanck yesterday with Bulldogs president David Smorgon, club chief executive Simon Garlick and a group of inner-sanctum sponsors.

The previous day he spent an hour with The Saturday Age before meeting AFL consultant Peter Jackson to put forward his thoughts on the club's evolving new set of values, before attending the Sun Theatre in Yarraville to help launch the emotional ''Western Front'' membership campaign.

''I've done a lot more media than I wanted to do,'' McCartney admitted, having previously politely asked not to be photographed for this interview due to recent minor facial surgery.

He also compared notes not long ago with former fellow Geelong assistant Brenton Sanderson. ''We both agreed we sleep a lot less,'' said McCartney. ''Getting to sleep is no problem at all, but once you wake up about 4.30 or 5am the brain is wide awake. We're all four of us [rookie coaches] at different clubs and I'm sure Nathan [Buckley] is the same at Collingwood. The only way you can really learn is by working through the experience.''

Yet McCartney's promotion in pure football terms has been organic. In a short time he has had an impact on the players which has thrilled the club executives and board members who appointed him. To summarise - and it's early days - the pre-season which has followed the Bulldogs' disappointing 2011 has been all about team, teaching and toughness.

Asked to nominate one Western Bulldogs player who has genuinely excited him and surpassed the new coach's initial expectations, McCartney barely hesitated. ''Ryan Griffen is a special talent,'' he said.

''I'm really lucky that I've got him at a time when he's mentally and physically ready. You get the odd rare one but you don't meet many Joel Selwoods who come straight into the game and immediately are ready to adjust. You don't meet many Chris Judds. They can handle the physical side almost straight away.

''With most players the mental toughness evolves when they are physically ready. Ryan's a combination of power but he has terrific technical skills. He's also aware that he's got to get better in certain areas. He's been off the track for a week now with soreness but he has been so impressive.''

Three days ago McCartney showed his new players a film of their previous training session. In any context and particularly that of what has been a brutal, physically and mentally gruelling pre-season, the session had been unimpressive with the first and second-year Bulldogs in particular showing insufficient intensity.

McCartney, in a frank exchange, asked the younger players what they thought of their performance, which provided what senior Bulldogs have said was one in a series of confronting incidents which have punctuated McCartney's short time at the club.

It is true that most AFL players are telling each other that this pre-season has been their most intense and McCartney believes the response from his group has been one of excitement. Almost everyone is playing different roles and also embracing this new crash course in the science of football.

Probably the Bulldogs' most disappointing season came from Brian Lake, who was seen as a potential trade commodity but who is now working regularly as something of a mentor at training and around the club with a group of younger players. ''We had an honest chat,'' said McCartney.

Robert Murphy's role will continue to change too. Having returned to the leadership group as a unanimous choice -Murphy vacated a somewhat more crowded line-up last season - the coach has tried to slow down his 29-year-old star. ''I need him to slow down so he can play for longer,'' said McCartney.

''He'll play at both ends of the ground. He's fantastic behind the ball and he's a sensational forward. They're all going to play different roles. If you take a line between really successful clubs it's about accepting the team always comes first.''

McCartney and his family will spend his brief summer break at their rebuilt house at Barwon Heads - across the river from Ocean Grove, the team he coached to four successive flags from 1994. Asked whether he golfs or surfs, he responded: ''A little bit of both.''

He plays golf at Thirteenth Beach, joking that he would have to survive as a senior AFL coach for a decade in order to afford to join Barwon Heads Golf Club. ''Walking past there is a bit like walking past the Geelong Grammar Chapel,'' said McCartney with a laugh, ''I don't dare speak.''

Article

[Go_Dogs]

Great article.

[SlimPickens]

Great article.

Agree, don't rate Caroline Wilson at all. This was a very good read.

[Remi Moses]

Like the bit where he didn't like the training of the young players and told them so.
Like how there's no crap like holding hands in Port Phillip Bay like one team.

[ledge]

Im guessing he had a nose operation?
I am not happy about the young players looking slack in previous training when he has said they are training well before.

He does seem to be honest and hard which is great, lets hope the players and his game plan work together and its a winning combination.

[LostDoggy]

Was at training yesterday, team has a "Bite" back. All players seem to honestly love the man and the way he's training them hard and Tough. Loved the intensity that he's brought back.
Bring on 2012.

[Mofra]

All players seem to honestly love the man and the way he's training them hard and Tough.

Clay Smith was praising him in another article - too early to tell but signs are positive with B-Mac for at least the pre-season.

[KT31]

Clay Smith was praising him in another article - too early to tell but signs are positive with B-Mac for at least the pre-season.

Agree still early but ticking all the right boxes.