AFL coaches feel the post-season heat

Around the same time Adelaide ruthlessly axed Brenton Sanderson on Wednesday night, his Western Bulldogs counterpart Brendan McCartney went on Melbourne radio.

McCartney addressed rumours of unrest at Whitten Oval, following the AFL club’s disappointing end to the season.

And Gold Coast coach Guy McKenna is 24 hours away from fronting the Suns board to discuss the season, which ended with four-straight losses and an end to hopes of their first finals appearance.

Sanderson, McKenna and McCartney personify the ruthless and stressful lot of an AFL senior coach, a species never associated with job security.

All three have had to deal with the washup from seasons that ended badly.

In Sanderson’s case, the fallout was terminally radioactive.

There is no suggestion that McCartney’s tenure at Whitten Oval is in danger, but this pre-season is crucial.

The `Dogs were supposed to end their season by honouring veteran player Daniel Giansiracusa with a farewell win.

Instead, they suffered a disastrous upset loss to Greater Western Sydney.

After eight wins last season, this year they had one less.

McCartney went on Fairfax Radio to talk about the rumours, including talk that some end-of-season interviews with players have not gone well.

In particular, McCartney denied that ruckman Will Minson stormed out of his meeting.

“You do hear snippets. I am not one to lean on the back fence and gossip, but it still filters back to us,” McCartney said.

“Our end-of-year win-loss record was pretty disappointing and it was a messy last game (against Greater Western Sydney) and it wasn’t a reflection of us.

“We did normal exit interviews and for some reason the feeling is those exit interviews are a surprise, but they are the culmination of ongoing chats through the year.

“Some of the interviews were pretty direct, but not just with individual players.

“We were pretty direct with how we reviewed, how we performed as a club and how we coached and how I coached and how we trained and prepared.”

It is fair to assume Suns board members will have some pretty direct questions for McKenna at Thursday’s meeting.

McKenna can point, with entire validity, to Gary Ablett’s season-ending shoulder injury and the fact that the Suns are still a young, developing side.

But Wednesday’s events in Adelaide would have done nothing for his nerves.

Only nine months ago, the Crows extended Sanderson’s contract until the end of 2016.

Life as an AFL senior coach can be nasty, brutish and short.

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