Stuart Waitley

You did this in your guise as the chairman of the Coaches Association to try to inspire a conversation right across the football landscape and as a bit of a cautionary tale to the coaches and the clubs as to how they might handle particularly long-term coaches in their midst.

It started with, it was very reflective.

You gave all of yourself,

in it.

So I was thinking these years on, you do fully understand your time in senior coaching and where the pitfalls swallowed you up.

Oh, definitely.

And I think, and I should start by saying, and I said this last week when I

I said to you, Gerard, that can we talk about this next week?

Just want to start by saying this is the greatest job in the world.

Coaching an AFL club, there is nothing better.

It is so much fun, but it comes with its consequences.

And I just felt – and having this role now with the Coach's Association and watching the coaches really closely, and this is –

This is the senior coaches, assistant coaches, development coaches in AFL and AFLW.

I just thought it was the right time to bring up the need, I think, as an industry to reinforce the importance of really strong support networks at Clubland.

Clubs investing in wellbeing for their coaches and just creating an environment where they

I think for our coaches, taking an emotional break is viewed as a strength rather than a weakness.

So to talk openly, I guess, as you said, I talked about my own experience.

I only coached for three years, but at the highest level, I had five years either side as an assistant coach.

But particularly the senior coaches, it is a 24-7 role, and they do work extremely hard to their own detriment, really.

They do push themselves hard.