AFL vs NRL relationship with sacking coaches - Andrew Voss | Across the Divide! (31.03.26)

I have been asked in the text line to ask you if Andy Marra is okay.

The vision of the Blues Radio commentary team calling their

capitulation against Melbourne is one of the saddest yet amusing pieces I've

seen in a long time and I'm not a Carlton Hater. Is my man Vossi okay too?

Just the cousin's twice removed?

It's to be determined I think. This is where I want to

play today Vossi is. It's very unusual in the AFL world to get a

sacking before the halfway mark of the season. It really is the

business of July and August. We beat you.

We beat you. They're either given time to work through it or to

suffer in it and sometimes it is suffering. Every now and then

there's one that lands in Round 8 or Round 12 which was Leon Cameron and Nathan

Buckley. So you jump out of the gates in a second at 0 and 3 in

March. How does it? So I had a couple of questions on that.

Is it popular or do people go this is ridiculous behaviour?

Manly fans frustrated and some thought should have made

change in offseason quite obviously with the benefit of hindsight.

All of us believe what the hell was it's a lack of leadership

that leads to the man you put in charge for an entire offseason

and offseason that starts basically the first week in November.

Melbourne Cup Week is a traditional start to go back. You let him coach them

November December January February get to the end of March

and sack. Some people are saying well those that make the decision should go

with him. They should also fall and they saw it. I find it it

it has divided rugby league community more are now latching on to other

coaches. We just we just move off the manly story

and now the blowtorch gets to someone it is such a

we have put out the talkback topic today what makes a good and bad coach

because to it too easily it is just defined by wins and losses.

Do you have Jared do you have good coaches that are regarded as good coaches by

the wider AFL community that are coaching teams down the bottom of the ladder.

I would my assumption is yes yes yes yes so Alice Decluxen is one of the most

really good coaches always for premierships and he's moved into the top 10

for games coached all time and he's been slogging away with North

Melbourne while they go through this painful rebuild and we're just starting

to see the first glimpses that maybe it will work

if it doesn't work he won't survive but yes you can

hack away in those positions down low so there's you do go early

with sackings pretty routinely don't you. Well we haven't reached

DPL stand it's let's face it there's hold hold my beer when it comes to

EPL and there's no doubt about that but more and more I think we are driven

by social media commentary never sleeps so a team that is suddenly zero and

three if it if it wins a game it disappears for a week

and then the attention just gets the bat and just gets passed.

So at the moment we jump off manly who is zero and three

we go to dragons there's zero and four so there coach Shane Flanagan

great rugby league man has won a premiership in the past but he's now under the

blowtorch two weeks ago the cowboys who started zero and two

Todd Peyton was being written up the coach most likely to be first sacked

guess what he's done the last two weeks they've won now they're saying Todd

Peyton say for the year it has become too fickle for my liking

it's become too fickle I quoted the great Wayne Bennett off the start of the

program one of the greatest coaches of any code in Australia

he said if you listen to the fans you end up sitting with them

now that may be disrespectful of the fans but I think a good coach a strong

coach does have to back themselves all the way through they cannot be

reactionary they do have to back themselves if they don't have faith in their

own decisions then they're not up for the job are they?

No no and the so the ferocity of the environment has grown for both of our

codes the advent of social media and also the rise in just the sheer amount of

media and the relentlessness of television programs and the radio spin-offs

and the like it's whether it gets inside the club so we're we're living this

at the moment with Michael Voss and Brad Scott the coaches of Carlton and

Essendon are sort of publicly being edged towards the end the edge of the

plank but what that actually looks like inside the forewars that that's where

usually there is an internet I quoted this a couple of times there's an

international study that has the longest tenure the longest average tenure of

professional coaching is in the AFL that worldwide

there aren't trigger seconds there's it's very rare to get those who just

react to what's happening publicly and I think we're in this new

environment we're looking towards Essendon and Carlton to see if that still holds

or whether they'll jump to either snap decisions or snappier decisions

depending on your point of view and and then just to watch to listen to

Manley's chairman say we need to win now like that's the rhetoric of talkback call us

that's right that's right now ridiculous on a Monday we have been

gardering the program he's going to be cut part of the coaching fold at the

Perth Bears he will replace Melman Inger after Mel sets them up

Ben is currently the Sam Owen coach they are a big cracker this year's world cup

he just said that was ridiculous for the chairman to put that pressure

straight away in the interim well there's a good chance they might be 0 and 6 and then what

and then what like isn't it just about improving being better than saying no it has to be the

W column yeah I I think we're on the right track I'm sorry on the wrong track let me get that

right we are on the wrong track when it comes to assessment and judging what isn't isn't a good

coach that people love to throw out the saying I guess it's the same in the AFL he's lost the

dressing room yes yeah like what what the hell does that mean I'll tell you what happened

Seymour did not lose the dressing room because they would have bought they would have been beaten by

50 or 60 last week you know their their fight was there but they lost and they 0 and 3 and he's

now out of a job I saw a team last year the new castle knight who who ended up picking up the

wooden spoon at the end of the season they were getting beaten by 50 every week that's lost the

dressing room isn't it when the team stopped trying but the players should be accountable for that

it's not just the coach the players gave up well I didn't see that in manly but the coach is

still lost his job he's lost his job a month into the season and so yeah the tipping point for

this is what happens I'll go to your other team Spurs is not only if they sack the first coach they've

then sack the interim coach and it's the second time in three years they've sack the filling guy

they're all they are is addicted to sacking coaches that so they conduct themselves like talk

back cause and then wonder why they're not successful yeah like yeah from from a far that they're the

most fascinating example of a professional team that I could think of just to watch the way

it is so self-defeating what they're doing yet they can't recognize it no no to be fair if

if you are fair thinking about giving the coach a chance this international break would be the time

for the player to work with the players who weren't obliged to be part of international duties the interim

coach when a team is playing in the Champions League as Spurs were up until a few weeks ago they're

playing weekends midweek like when do you do the quality work to put your impromata on the team yeah

there's all these facets all I know is that every coach either Anthony Seymold who's been sacked

or is under the gun at the moment I've spent time with all of them and I've learnt off all of them

I love talking football with them so I think the difference between good bad great coach might not

be that much Jared maybe it is just wins and losses like wins wins cure everything wins deflect

everything but then you got Mark and we'll go I won a premiership last year and two weeks into

the season they're saying he's lost the room like he's too tough it's I'm gonna say rugby leagues

got AFL covered we are crazy I'm gonna read my right this down rugby league we as a collective

are crazier than AFL yes we're crazier so I it's our cultural gold star that we have the longest

tenure for coaches but I just wonder what happens in the next little bit invariably you've

followed the the world trend and it's especially when it's now your neighbor who's doing it

routinely and what happens there