Inside the exhaustive process to find an AFL senior coach

June 11, 2026 — 10:00am

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A big Melbourne club. No success to brag about for more than two decades following a period of sustained success. An unhappy supporter base that have started to lose faith, wondering if they will ever see success again. And the club is looking for a new coach, after sacking another coach mid-season. Does the club go through a process? Or do they simply appoint an icon from club’s past?

The club, Richmond of 2009, decided not to appoint Kevin Sheedy after briefly exploring the idea. They decided to conduct a process, potentially the first truly “exhaustive” process undertaken by an AFL club to identify their new coach.

People forget that after Terry Wallace was removed midway through 2009, Sheedy launched an impassioned plea on his friend Kevin Bartlett’s radio show, promoting his wares to be the next Richmond coach.

Discussions with Richmond president Gary March led to Sheedy withdrawing his interest. Four months later he was appointed as the inaugural senior coach of GWS.

The hierarchy at Richmond decided to run the process they did for two reasons:

To appoint the best coach; and,

To gather knowledge about what the best clubs were........

© Brisbane Times