I HAVE watched with interest over the past couple of weeks as the coaching merry-go-round has cranked into gear.

Two coaches have resigned and the rumours are flying around about who is going to end up where next year.

One name that keeps popping up as a potential senior coach is Damien Hardwick, who has spent the last five seasons as an assistant with us at Hawthorn.

Much as I don’t want to see him leave, I think Damien would make a good senior coach and has definitely learned plenty about the caper.

He has always had the footy smarts about him and has really developed his presentation skills in talking to the boys. He has come along in leaps and bounds with his public speaking and when he takes meetings he communicates really well with the players.

Another name I have followed with interest has been new Tigers coach Jade Rawlings. Jade was a teammate of mine in my first three years at the Hawks and to this day I don’t think I’ve come across anyone who knows their football as well as him.

He lives for the game. He’d know every player on every list and all their strengths and weaknesses.

I don’t think I’ve heard a bad word said about Jade, because he is such a nice bloke. But in saying that, he would know when to be firm and honest with his players. You know where you stand with him. If you deserve a spray he’ll give you one. Combine that with his deep footy knowledge and he could turn out to be a very good coach.

One of the discussions about potential coaches has been whether to go with an experienced campaigner or someone who is new to the caper.

I remember at the end of 2004 being a little surprised at the news Alastair Clarkson was going to take over at the Hawks. There were a few experienced coaches in the market for a job at the time – and I remember Gary Ayres seemed to be the favourite for the gig because he was a past player of the club. But Hawthorn took a risk on an untried coach and it has only paid off since. I think the Clarko appointment heralded a bit of a departure from the AFL trend to appoint former club greats as coach.

This can be a tough sell for supporters who want to see the players they barracked for take over the job.

As an example, I’m sure Collingwood fans wouldn’t like to see Nathan Buckley coach at another team. Every Magpie supporter would have fallen in love with Bucks because of what he has done for the club for so many years.

Whether or not he would be the right fit for them as a coach, who would know? You can’t dismiss Mick Malthouse. 

Malthouse has coached for 26 years and he’s doing a top job. He’s made three different teams reach the top four and you don’t do that through luck.

Sometimes people can be too quick to write off a coach just because he’s been around for a while. It’s the same for a player. As soon as he turns 30, as soon as he has a bad year, there are suggestions he should retire.

It usually seems to be a fair bit of an overreaction. I guess the coaching merry-go-round will continue to occupy water cooler conversation until the end of the year.

The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the clubs or the AFL.