A tale of two coaches

Carlton coach Denis Pagan dodged the axe, but Brett Collett says it is hard seeing Geelong coach Mark Thompson doing the same.

In the grand scheme of things, it may be hard to believe that one game could decide the fate of an AFL senior coach. After all, most sides' fate is sealed by round 22 and usually it is obvious whether a coach will be in the saddle for another season or looking new employment.

But in two cases it has either – or looks like it is going to – come down to a bitter board debate to decide a coach's future.

Last night saw days of speculation, innuendo and undermining culminate in a Carlton board meeting to figure out whether coach Denis Pagan – he who led the Kangaroos to two premierships in the 90s and is under contract for huge money until the end of 2008 – should stay or be sacked.

After a few hours of conference calls, bickering, alternative scenarios and a Barry Mitchell presentation, it was decided that Pagan would see out his contract with a reform of the football committee that will see favourite son Stephen Silvagni return as Pagan's number two.

It's a decision that could again change the face of the Blues at all levels, with long-time Pagan lieutenant Tony Elshaug on the way out and the likelihood of assistant (with senior aspirations) coach Mitchell also making way.

But it is behind the mahogany desks of the board and administration where the biggest overhauls may come: president Graham Smorgon, CEO Michael Malouf and board member Adrian Gleeson refused to back Pagan heading into the meeting, and it was Gleeson who led the charge to install Mitchell as the new coach. Surely Gleeson's spot on the board is untenable, while Smorgon and Malouf are on shaky ground, but should survive.

So now the spotlight swings back round the bay to Sleepy Hollow, where Geelong coach Mark Thompson awaits the findings of CEO Brian Cook's review on the football department.

Like Pagan, Thompson has a contract. Unlike Pagan, Thompson hasn't got the winning record, legendary status in the game nor a salary that couldn't be payed out. “Bomber” Thompson also seems to have personality and off-field clashes with players and staff.

He's also had more time at his club (seven seasons to Pagan's four) and may be deemed as having taken the Cats as far as they can go with him in charge.

This looms as one of the most important decisions at the Cattery for decades, as the club has recently rebuilt on the field and off it with a stadium expansion and getting its finances back in the black.

It appears that Thompson will be sacked, though. Persistent rumours of off-field problems (something that this columnist heard from sources months before they were addressed publicly), a dip in form that saw Geelong miss the eight after almost winning a semi final last season and the lack of enthusiasm that Thompson has displayed all point to Cook – and long-time Thompson supporter, president Frank Costa – cutting their losses and firing the one-time premiership captain.

Oddly, if you were taking bets on Thompson's fate before their final round game against Hawthorn, you'd have had “Bomber” staying as favourite. But a dismal 10-goal defeat by a club that is still in its rebuilding infancy might just have swung the pendulum the other way, and convinced Cook, Costa and the board that Thompson isn't the man to break Geelong's 43-year premiership drought.

If Thompson is axed, it might allow Mitchell to get the senior position he so obviously yearns for, or assistants at other clubs like John Longmire (Sydney), Mark Harvey (Fremantle) or Daryn Cresswell (recently seperated from Brisbane and a former Geelong assistant) may enter the frame.

Whatever happens, the handing down of Cook's review will see several months of conjecture on the position cease; it's just a matter of the club either doing what Hawthorn should have done with Peter Schwab at the end of 2003, or holding on for one more year like Fremantle did with Chris Connolly this season.

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