Source :- THE AGE NEWS
Simon Goodwin will coach again. Probably.
His natural “urge” to be the loudest voice in the huddle – as he was for 10 years with Melbourne – still exists, deep within, but is being suppressed. And he is in no rush to set it free.
You can understand why.
These days, Goodwin lives in North Bondi, with one of the world’s best beaches at his doorstep. Some mornings, he’ll go for a surf. Occasionally, he’ll be recognised by an expat Victorian, but most of the time is left to his own devices. That alone is priceless.
Then it’s off to work as the Swans’ new director of coaching and performance. Their training ground offers a sensational view of the city skyline. On the turf is one of the AFL’s strongest lists, led by a generational talent in Isaac Heeney. Goodwin has the privilege of helping them and all the other coaches get a little better at what they do, every day.
His office is on the other side of Driver Avenue, inside the historic Royal Hall of Industries, which was converted three years ago into the club’s swanky new headquarters. It’s a pretty nice place to be, especially when the Sydney sun is beaming through the windows.
“I’m enjoying just taking a step back and looking at coaching holistically … but I’m sure that urge will come at some stage.”
Simon Goodwin on his coaching future
But if that doesn’t fill his cup enough, he can also tap into some of the game’s sharpest minds, whenever he wants: John Longmire, Matthew Pavlich, Leon Cameron and Wayne Campbell are among those who walk the corridors. Or he could poke around Moore Park; chances are he’ll bump into someone from the three other football codes, which are all based nearby, whose brains he could pick in his relentless search for nuggets of sporting wisdom.
Goodwin had other options when he was sacked by the Demons in August. He could have taken a “gap year” and travelled, or he could have gone straight into the media, like former Port Adelaide boss Ken Hinkley.
But that wouldn’t have scratched the itch that remains.
“For me, it was about staying in coaching,” Goodwin says.
“Coaching’s what I love. I love high performance. I love the competitive nature of it. I love the challenge of being in an environment that’s difficult and trying to create success. I didn’t want to miss that. But I also wanted to make sure I was in an environment that was unique and different. And Sydney no doubt brings that: the lifestyle, but also the culture that the club has was just so appealing to come and be a part of.”
Many footballers – most notably Lance Franklin, and most recently Charlie Curnow at the Swans and Clayton Oliver at the Giants – have pursued a move north of the border partly so they could escape the intense media scrutiny of the south and bask in the semi-anonymity of living in a “non-traditional” AFL market.
Goodwin, 49, is the first premiership coach to have done so. But as much as he’s enjoying being able to switch off from footy when he leaves work – which isn’t possible in Melbourne – he is not complaining about what he has left behind, even as he admits that the greatest challenge from his time with the Demons was the impact on his family, and the difficulty of shielding them from the criticism directed at him.
“Probably the hardest thing as a senior coach is that your family’s immersed in it with you,” he says. “You sort of bring it home a little bit, but I wouldn’t take it back for anything.
“There’s an intensity in our industry that’s really, really high. That’s not changing. That’s a big part of what you love about our game as well. When you’re going well, there’s a lot of praise. When you’re not going well, there’s a lot of criticism. It’s got bigger and bigger in the game, the more there is social media … the celebration and the adulation is higher and the criticism and in some ways blame is higher as well.
“Our job internally is to make sure that we can keep perspective and stick to process. There’s no doubt it’s a challenge for all clubs. But the really strong football clubs and teams around the competition have great perspective, great composure, great understanding, win or loss, where it sits in the season – and they don’t change.”
The Swans are one of those clubs, and in truth, the biggest appeal for Goodwin about his new gig is the opportunity it grants him to observe this well-oiled machine from the inside, and better understand the drivers behind one of the AFL’s most envied cultures.
The answer is simpler than it might seem: strong leadership, stability and an external environment that genuinely supports the people within the club, rather than seeking to tear them down. But as he knows from his time at Melbourne, actually living those values is not so simple.
“Everyone knows what makes great football clubs and great organisations,” Goodwin says.
“The challenge is execution and being able to deliver it. And that takes a lot of good people, and it takes a lot of people that don’t have ego and are prepared to just really invest into what they truly believe in.
“The best clubs in the last 20, 30 years have done it consistently over a long, long period of time. You think of Sydney, you think of Geelong, you think of Hawthorn. They continually are at the top for a reason.”
Goodwin’s remit at the Swans is broad. He sits above and beside the other assistant coaches, sharing responsibility for overall strategy and tactics, the design and implementation of training and review sessions, and helping the coaching group improve, individually. But he also runs the team’s offence, meaning he still gets his hands dirty. It’s the best of both worlds.
He also has a decade of lived experience as an AFL coach to share with Dean Cox, who he admires greatly for his clarity of vision and the way it has encouraged widespread buy-in from the players.
He is mindful, though, that it is ultimately Cox who is running the show – and so there are times when he feels like he should command the attention of the room, like he used to, but has to quietly restrain himself.
“It’s something I’m conscious of, because I’m here to learn as well,” he says.
“Just because I’ve seen something done a certain way before, doesn’t mean it’s always right. Being able to sit in that little uncomfortable space and to learn and observe and reflect … I’m no different to other coaches. That’s sort of what you need to do to keep getting better.
“There’ll be things that I’ll speak up and give my opinion on, but there’ll be other times I just want to sit back and learn and grow myself. Taking a step back and using those experiences and mentoring in a certain aspect, I’ve really enjoyed that.”
Observing the Demons from afar, meanwhile, has also been a pleasure. Goodwin said he felt like a “proud dad” watching his former players make a storming 3-1 start to the new season under his replacement, Steven King, and he is still in touch with many of them.
“I’ve spent a lot of time with that playing group … over a long period of time and put a lot of investment into not only the senior players that are still there, but there’s a lot of kids on that list that we’ve drafted in the last three or four years and developed,” he says.
“The way they’re playing right now, I’m really happy for them. I’m certainly proud of what they’re doing. I’m really grateful that I was able to leave the club in a good position from a playing perspective and the list is in good shape. You sit there with a little smile on your face.”
So does Goodwin think that “urge” will return, and that a time will come when he branches out on his own again?
“I think it will at some stage,” he admits. “I’m enjoying just taking a step back and looking at coaching holistically, and working with a young senior coach in Coxy. I really love that – but I’m sure that urge will come at some stage.
“In the meantime, it’s certainly not at the forefront of my mind. I want to get better myself and keep enjoying what I’m doing here. I love the Swans and I want to do something pretty unique and special here first.”
