Source :- PERTH NOW NEWS
Matthew Nicks is adamant Adelaide’s fighting AFL elimination final win over the Western Bulldogs had no bearing on his coaching job security.
The brutal circumstances around Alastair Clarkson’s sacking at North Melbourne last week also had Chris Scott fired up, with the Geelong coach asking “what hope is there for the rest of us?”
Nicks and Scott appeared on AFL360 after a tumultuous week for AFL coaches. Speculation abounded ahead of last Saturday night’s home final that if the Crows lost, it would cost Nicks his job.
Asked on Monday night if he would have stayed Crows coach had they lost, Nicks replied: “Absolutely.”
He added: “Part of being a good football club is ongoing conversation.
“I can only speak to the conversations I have with our our chairman and our CEO, our board regularly, about what it is we’re doing as a footy club.
“And I totally understand the speculation and the narrative that comes at this time of the year, but you’ve just got to look at our record over the last couple of years, what it is we’ve built over a period of time.
“Everything’s coming together and we still have a lot of work to do. It means we go on and we’re aiming to play a month of footy, and we’ve got three weeks to go.”
North sacked Clarkson last Wednesday, with club president Sonja Hood and football boss Todd Viney pulling no punches in a highly contentious media conference as they explained why the coaching great had been axed.
Clarkson then gave an emotional interview, saying he and his family felt “publicly humiliated” by what was said at the media conference.
He also donated his club clothing over the weekend to a local Melbourne opp shop.
Scott was livid at the treatment of Clarkson, who coached Hawthorn to four premierships.
“I’ve often heard it’s a lonely existence, and weeks like this remind me of that because it feels like you don’t have many people advocating on our behalf,” Scott said.
“It’s really difficult for us as outsiders, and even understanding the job better than most, it’s impossible to look inside another football club and have an opinion on whether that club made the right decision or not.
“But I think all coaches everywhere would say, ‘Well, if you treat Alastair Clarkson like that, what hope is there for the rest of us?’, and I don’t think that’s a good environment to operate in.”
Scott, a two-time premiership coach at Geelong, said he was taken back to when he started at the Cats.
Neil Balme, then the Geelong football boss and now a board member at Adelaide, tried to put Scott at ease.
“Balme said to me, ‘Don’t worry, mate, if this doesn’t work out, it’s not your fault, it’ll be our fault’,” Scott said.
“And it was a bit of a gag to kind of make me feel a bit better about myself, but I actually took it as a message that no, it is all of us, and if it doesn’t work out, we will take responsibility as well.
“I just get the feeling these days it’s too easy for others to put all the blame on the coach, especially when you’ve got someone that’s proven … beyond a shadow of a doubt.
“Now, whatever you think of him (Clarkson), I think he deserves the respect not to have all of the dirty laundry aired publicly. Again, that’s not to comment on the decision at all.”
