Jordan Lewis has given his thoughts on the situation at Carlton surrounding coach David Teague.
While it feels inevitable that the Blues will move on from the young coach, the four-time premiership Hawk wonders whether the club could change its culture by sticking with Teague and putting experienced coaches around him.
“This is a footy club unfortunately that jumps at shadows and when things aren’t going well they tend to make the call,” Lewis told AFL Nation.
“Look back at Damien Hardwick and look back at Alastair Clarkson. They went through exactly the same thing. A position where the side wasn’t performing too well and they had been in the role longer than Teague has.
“He’s two and a half years into a position where everything has been thrown into absolute chaos (by COVID).
“The support from within the club, if you listen to people, hasn’t been all that great.
“To stick with the person who is currently in the position and working with the playing group and understanding there will be rough periods and to stick with it, and who knows whether they will, is an important thing.
“Everyone can remember the Richmond one because it was so recent and vivid. Hawthorn went through exactly the same thing. Now, you get through that tough period and players feed from that.
“If players see a coach under pressure and they see a board that supports them and everyone else that supports them, that feeds down to the playing group and builds immense trust within the whole organisation.
“That’s what Carlton hasn’t had for a long, long time.”
When asked whether he would move on from Teague, Lewis said that changing coach would once again set the Blues back and cause instability in the playing group.
“Not being in there and understanding everything that goes with it, we’ve always seen players and coaches in this position and if they can stick with the person that they’ve put into that position for longer than two and a half years, who knows what rewards will be there,” he said.
“Yet there’s going to be what we think will be massive change again. It upsets the whole playing group.”
Carlton has been strongly linked to veteran coaches Alastair Clarkson and Ross Lyon, but Lewis warns that just because those coaches have had success elsewhere does not guarantee them success at a new club.
“Bringing in a coach that has previously done so well, that might not necessarily transfer to a new organisation, a new playing group, a new environment,” Lewis said.
“That is also a gamble. You need time. We look at their list demographic and their age and experience, it needs time.
“If you could strengthen around David Teague and bring coaches and people from successful organisations with great philosophies, the improvement will come.
“27 of the last 33 premiership coaches have been premiership coaches over the last 50 years. That’s what history tells us.”
Nick Dal Santo agrees, but feels Carlton can’t move Teague on unless it is for one of the big names available on the market.
“I can’t see them moving David Teague on if they haven’t got Alastair Clarkson, Ross Lyon or Nathan Buckley,” the new St Kilda AFLW coach said.
“I know there’s other really good candidates out there … you have to upgrade. It’s not about finding someone who’s going to grow with the group. They’ve got that person right now who’s trying to grow with the group.
“It hasn’t worked to this point, but that growth doesn’t mean it ends at this point.
“The growth I see is substantial and can really peak and peak quickly, but I don’t know what the purpose would be, if you’re not getting (one of those three), then aren’t you doing something similar replacing him with someone outside of that group of three?”
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