Michael Voss, Craig McRae and Sam Mitchell will need to conquer the “coach’s curse”, says AFL legend Leigh Matthews.
Voss replaced David Teague as Carlton coach on a three-year deal - his second senior coaching gig in the AFL after five years at Brisbane – while first-year coaches McRae and Mitchell are entering their debut seasons at Collingwood and Hawthorn respectively.
Matthews, a four-time premiership coach, explained how the Blues, Magpies and Hawks mentors can overcome the “coach’s curse”.
“The curse of coaching is the simple principal – it’s the buck stops position. In a team sport, the coach is the buck stops position,” Matthews told Sportsday.
“Clearly you’re not out on the field, but you’ve got to think the buck stops with you and these days probably your coaching group.
“The fans think you’re in total control of what happens with your team. You’ve done the planning, you’ve done the preparation, but on match days, the players execute – that’s the coach’s curse.
“You’ve got to feel responsible, everybody thinks you’re responsible, but deep down you know that all you can do is get the best out of your playing group.
“One of the things about avoiding or conquering that curse is you can’t let your players see that that’s your deep-down mentality, because you can’t be a stress carrier. That to me is kind of like the coaching curse.
“When you look around the dressing room post-game, I can guarantee you the senior coach is the most miserable person after a loss, more than any player ever is. Players are disappointed, but the coach feels responsible.
“Michael Voss will start to feel it again when Carlton plays and of course Sam Mitchell and Craig McRae. As much as they’ve got a great background in football, they haven’t felt it yet.
“How they actually conquer the coach’s curse will be the interesting scenario.”