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Roos revolution turns it around
May 17 2003
Relaxed: Paul Roos, happy with his side's form after three straight wins, says the players can get excited but it's the coach's job to stay calm. Photo: Edwina Pickles
As well as empowering players and helping change the culture at the Swans, Paul Roos is winning some games, writes Caroline Wilson.
Never before in 19 seasons of senior football - and certainly never since - had Paul Roos known before a game that he would win. But he was certain of victory against Richmond on August 31 last year.
What he hadn't expected was the demonstration that followed, involving placards and screaming fans. Former Bulldogs coach Terry Wallace was at home, his rumoured agreement with the Swans disintegrating by the minute.
Roos's confidence centred on the certainty that his team would not allow Paul Kelly and Andrew Dunkley to lose their last game. Both players' outstanding service for their club had taken an unusual turn during the Swans' crisis. Both had intervened to force the board into action over the coaching position.
Now, it was all over - the season, and the careers of Kelly and Dunkley. But not for Paul Roos, the coach of 10 weeks. He was not prepared for what happened after the final siren when he walked onto the ground and his players mobbed him with the most emphatic statement of all. The club's "process" was to follow, but that was the night Roos became coach of the Swans.
Two days later, Roos fronted the board and said he did not want to get the coaching job by winning a popularity contest. The wishes of fans can prove famously hollow (in fact, after the Swans' third straight loss, to Hawthorn last month, letters arrived damning the club for not appointing Wallace) but the players' vote counted for more.
"It was only after the [Richmond] game I noticed the banners and I must say I was a bit amazed by the player response," Roos says. "That shocked me . . . Cresswell, Kelly, Dunkley, Maxfield, Williams, they'd all made comments publicly in a bit of an endorsement. That meant a lot that they wanted me."
Roos was not Sydney's first choice as a player, either. The club's former chief executive, Ron Joseph, told Roos at the end of 1994 that he would leave Fitzroy for Sydney as part of a two-player deal with Tony Lockett or not at all. Roos smiles at the prospect of anyone expecting him to be the then unsettled Lockett's minder, given that Lockett's work ethic and behaviour at the Swans were impeccable.
He smiles, too, at the inevitable question about being potentially overlooked for Wallace. It is now accepted that Roos's three-year deal was more impressive financially as a result of the rumoured fiasco in which Wallace was offered the job and then had the offer rescinded. Strong rumours of a financial settlement persist but remain unproved.
"I only know what I've been told in here," said Roos. "Both [Swans chairman] Richard [Colless] and [football director] Andrew [Ireland] have looked me in the eye and said there was no deal and I can only believe them."
Roos and Wallace have not crossed paths since, but Roos would be happy to do so. "I have no problem with Terry," he said. "I played against him for years and even though we were never friends if I ran into him I wouldn't have any problem shaking his hand and looking him in the eye. I'd like to have a beer or a coffee with him and talk about it all."
Roos is sitting in his shiny new office overlooking the grey and green of a sodden Moore Park. One whiteboard shows his match-ups for the clash with Geelong, another lists his 10-man leadership group voted by the players in a bid to fill the void left by the departures of Kelly and Dunkley.
Roos believes players such as Brad Seymour, Jared Crouch and Jude Bolton are taking on-field action now whereas in the past the job would have been left to Kelly and Dunkley. It has been written that Roos has empowered players to make their own decisions.
One day, during the pre-season, the coach and his assistants didn't turn up for training but filmed the session to see how the players responded. Regularly this year a member of the leadership group has been selected to take training.
Roos appears as calm and unfazed as he looks every time the cameras find him in the coaches' box. The Swans have won three in a row and are in the eight. But the body language was no different after the previous three losses.
"It's a natural thing for me to be calm," Roos says, "and less natural for me to blow up. It's good for players to get emotionally high and emotionally low but not coaches. Your life might feel like hell but from an appearance point of view that should never show.
"Winning and losing has to mean a lot to players. I remember that feeling of winning on Saturday and having breakfast in bed on Sunday, watching the football on TV and basking in your own glory all day. But coaching, after a game like [Sunday's win against] Brisbane, you're home with your family by 8.30 in your pyjamas to watch a video of the game.
"To make the finals is not the goal this year. Two years ago Hawthorn belted us and we were too old and there didn't seem much point. What we are trying to achieve will take longer than that."
It seems unfair to compare Roos - at the start of a three-year contract - to Eade in his final, desperate half-season. But the common opinion at the club is that Roos is tougher as a decision maker while Eade was tougher at talking the talk. The dumping of Ricky Mott, then 21, is a typical demonstration of Roos's determination, along with the club's overdue policy of rebuilding, to change the culture at Sydney.
Significantly, neither Kelly nor Dunkley is coaching at the club. NSW football was something of a retirement fund for its former stars. That is no longer the case.
Former Kangaroo Peter Jonas came on board and, according to Roos, has been one reason for the remarkable progression of Adam Goodes, who struggled under Eade last year and wanted to leave the club by mid-season.
"It's hard to pinpoint one reason why he's become such a good player," says Roos, "but he is still just a kid who needs confidence. Maybe we were a bit strong with what was wrong with his game. Now Peter's come in and said, 'Boys, why don't you focus on how good he is?"' The Swans lost $1 million last year, were lucky not to lose more and will make another big loss in 2003. The chief executive of less than a year, Colin Seery, fell on his sword this week. New football chief Ireland has already cut $2 million from his department's budget and in the restructure everyone, including the coach, is reporting to him.
In Eade's final weeks, Kelly had taken the unprecedented step of fronting the directors. He felt that the club was being torn apart and that action had to be taken. Dunkley spoke out in a newspaper interview because he felt the board was sitting on the fence.
Roos said he learned from his former Fitzroy teammate John Blakey that Eade was leaving. But he still had to walk to Eade's office to confirm it was true.
Then, what had seemed to onlookers as inevitable since Roos's decision, after the Olympics, to quit his media career and become a full-time assistant coach, happened: he was asked to take over.
"I never took the job on a promise to get the senior position," he says. "I was never out to get the job from Rodney. It wasn't difficult for me working with him because I was there to help him keep his job. I could always look myself in the eye and know that."
May 17 2003
Relaxed: Paul Roos, happy with his side's form after three straight wins, says the players can get excited but it's the coach's job to stay calm. Photo: Edwina Pickles
As well as empowering players and helping change the culture at the Swans, Paul Roos is winning some games, writes Caroline Wilson.
Never before in 19 seasons of senior football - and certainly never since - had Paul Roos known before a game that he would win. But he was certain of victory against Richmond on August 31 last year.
What he hadn't expected was the demonstration that followed, involving placards and screaming fans. Former Bulldogs coach Terry Wallace was at home, his rumoured agreement with the Swans disintegrating by the minute.
Roos's confidence centred on the certainty that his team would not allow Paul Kelly and Andrew Dunkley to lose their last game. Both players' outstanding service for their club had taken an unusual turn during the Swans' crisis. Both had intervened to force the board into action over the coaching position.
Now, it was all over - the season, and the careers of Kelly and Dunkley. But not for Paul Roos, the coach of 10 weeks. He was not prepared for what happened after the final siren when he walked onto the ground and his players mobbed him with the most emphatic statement of all. The club's "process" was to follow, but that was the night Roos became coach of the Swans.
Two days later, Roos fronted the board and said he did not want to get the coaching job by winning a popularity contest. The wishes of fans can prove famously hollow (in fact, after the Swans' third straight loss, to Hawthorn last month, letters arrived damning the club for not appointing Wallace) but the players' vote counted for more.
"It was only after the [Richmond] game I noticed the banners and I must say I was a bit amazed by the player response," Roos says. "That shocked me . . . Cresswell, Kelly, Dunkley, Maxfield, Williams, they'd all made comments publicly in a bit of an endorsement. That meant a lot that they wanted me."
Roos was not Sydney's first choice as a player, either. The club's former chief executive, Ron Joseph, told Roos at the end of 1994 that he would leave Fitzroy for Sydney as part of a two-player deal with Tony Lockett or not at all. Roos smiles at the prospect of anyone expecting him to be the then unsettled Lockett's minder, given that Lockett's work ethic and behaviour at the Swans were impeccable.
He smiles, too, at the inevitable question about being potentially overlooked for Wallace. It is now accepted that Roos's three-year deal was more impressive financially as a result of the rumoured fiasco in which Wallace was offered the job and then had the offer rescinded. Strong rumours of a financial settlement persist but remain unproved.
"I only know what I've been told in here," said Roos. "Both [Swans chairman] Richard [Colless] and [football director] Andrew [Ireland] have looked me in the eye and said there was no deal and I can only believe them."
Roos and Wallace have not crossed paths since, but Roos would be happy to do so. "I have no problem with Terry," he said. "I played against him for years and even though we were never friends if I ran into him I wouldn't have any problem shaking his hand and looking him in the eye. I'd like to have a beer or a coffee with him and talk about it all."
Roos is sitting in his shiny new office overlooking the grey and green of a sodden Moore Park. One whiteboard shows his match-ups for the clash with Geelong, another lists his 10-man leadership group voted by the players in a bid to fill the void left by the departures of Kelly and Dunkley.
Roos believes players such as Brad Seymour, Jared Crouch and Jude Bolton are taking on-field action now whereas in the past the job would have been left to Kelly and Dunkley. It has been written that Roos has empowered players to make their own decisions.
One day, during the pre-season, the coach and his assistants didn't turn up for training but filmed the session to see how the players responded. Regularly this year a member of the leadership group has been selected to take training.
Roos appears as calm and unfazed as he looks every time the cameras find him in the coaches' box. The Swans have won three in a row and are in the eight. But the body language was no different after the previous three losses.
"It's a natural thing for me to be calm," Roos says, "and less natural for me to blow up. It's good for players to get emotionally high and emotionally low but not coaches. Your life might feel like hell but from an appearance point of view that should never show.
"Winning and losing has to mean a lot to players. I remember that feeling of winning on Saturday and having breakfast in bed on Sunday, watching the football on TV and basking in your own glory all day. But coaching, after a game like [Sunday's win against] Brisbane, you're home with your family by 8.30 in your pyjamas to watch a video of the game.
"To make the finals is not the goal this year. Two years ago Hawthorn belted us and we were too old and there didn't seem much point. What we are trying to achieve will take longer than that."
It seems unfair to compare Roos - at the start of a three-year contract - to Eade in his final, desperate half-season. But the common opinion at the club is that Roos is tougher as a decision maker while Eade was tougher at talking the talk. The dumping of Ricky Mott, then 21, is a typical demonstration of Roos's determination, along with the club's overdue policy of rebuilding, to change the culture at Sydney.
Significantly, neither Kelly nor Dunkley is coaching at the club. NSW football was something of a retirement fund for its former stars. That is no longer the case.
Former Kangaroo Peter Jonas came on board and, according to Roos, has been one reason for the remarkable progression of Adam Goodes, who struggled under Eade last year and wanted to leave the club by mid-season.
"It's hard to pinpoint one reason why he's become such a good player," says Roos, "but he is still just a kid who needs confidence. Maybe we were a bit strong with what was wrong with his game. Now Peter's come in and said, 'Boys, why don't you focus on how good he is?"' The Swans lost $1 million last year, were lucky not to lose more and will make another big loss in 2003. The chief executive of less than a year, Colin Seery, fell on his sword this week. New football chief Ireland has already cut $2 million from his department's budget and in the restructure everyone, including the coach, is reporting to him.
In Eade's final weeks, Kelly had taken the unprecedented step of fronting the directors. He felt that the club was being torn apart and that action had to be taken. Dunkley spoke out in a newspaper interview because he felt the board was sitting on the fence.
Roos said he learned from his former Fitzroy teammate John Blakey that Eade was leaving. But he still had to walk to Eade's office to confirm it was true.
Then, what had seemed to onlookers as inevitable since Roos's decision, after the Olympics, to quit his media career and become a full-time assistant coach, happened: he was asked to take over.
"I never took the job on a promise to get the senior position," he says. "I was never out to get the job from Rodney. It wasn't difficult for me working with him because I was there to help him keep his job. I could always look myself in the eye and know that."
I liked the idea about not turning up to training to see what happens.
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