Alistair Nicholson in the studio! - AFL Coaches Association Senior Coach of the Year award | AFLCA CEO (22.09.26)
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Why did Alistair Nicholson vote for Foggs as Coach of the Year?
I think Foggs, I just think he's done a remarkable job again to get that team having a flow. And I don't know, I've given it away too much, but I voted for him as the coach of the year. I had four. And a bit hard to go past Sam Mitchell for me, but it's almost, it's less about who gets your three votes and more about who it didn't go for. I thought Dean Cox did an amazing job this year.
Chris Scott and Craig McRae with us on AFL 360 last night pondering the AFL Coaches Association Award for the Senior Coach of the Year, which will be named tonight. The Chief Executive of the Coaches Association, Alistair Nicholson, is in the studio. Al, great to see you. Thanks, Gerard. Big night because it's a terrific field to choose
from. Absolutely. It's a fascinating award to see how our full coaching group who all vote on this think who's done the best. It's the home and away and up to the prelim. And we've got some, obviously, Stephen King and Josh Fraser with their first years and what Josh did at Carlton. And then some four really fantastic prelim final senior coaches. So it's a wide field and it's going to be really interesting to see who the coaches think is the senior coach of the year. So Sunday night, the votes had to be in, but who votes? So all coaches in the AFL coaching, the coach for the clubs, they do. So development assistant and senior coaches. So you get a really good spread of, you know, sort of we get about, you know, nearly 180 votes that they almost all vote, which is great.
How does the AFL Coaches Association voting process work for the Senior Coach of the Year award?
Three, two, one? Three, two, one. And yeah, so obviously that gives us, you know, a good winner. But in recent years, it's been close. And I think what's interesting in the last eight years for, Four of the winners haven't been the Premiership Coach. And I think the default is, okay, well, the Premiership Coach is the Senior Coach of the Year. But this award takes in all the stuff that goes in front of it, whether it's injury or, you know, home and away or close losses or whatever else. So, yeah, really interesting award to see who comes up tonight.
Yeah, so a level of excellence sustained. The hot riser has always been popular in this award, but the newbies make it just so interesting.
Absolutely. And for what, you know, Josh has done this year at Carlton and even Stephen King and some of the off-field stuff that was happening with Melbourne, it will be recognised and, you know, I think will not be lost on all the people that have voted on the weekend. Yeah.
In your awards, you also recognize the suite, the broader delegation of the coaching fraternity, which is a big part of it, isn't it? It's not just the senior coach these days.
Yeah, absolutely. We have five awards. There's probably three. There's a Career and Education Award, a Development Coach of the Year Award, Assistant Coach of the Year Award, and the Neil Danaher Lifetime Achievement Award.
What award categories does the AFL Coaches Association recognise beyond the Senior Coach of the Year?
So The first three are interesting because they actually show some interesting, I suppose, bloodlines in regard to the progression of coaches. So if you look at career and education, Stephen King has won that award. Andrew McWalter has won that award, both now senior coaches. And in the last four or five years, people that have won that award are Jamie Graham, Daniel Pratt, Adrian Hickmont, and Murray Davis, all guys that are in contention for senior roles. Development coach of the year, Craig McRae's actually won that back in the day. Craig's actually won the development coach of the year, the assistant coach of the year, and the senior coach of the year in all his journey. And that is actually getting the gold, silver, bronze, the three medals is actually a really hard thing to do because you're
They're different skills. If you're a really good development coach, certainly doesn't make you a good senior coach or assistant coach. You can become that, but it's not as easy. So obviously recognition for fly on that. And then the assistant coach of the year, the last four winners have been Cameron Bruce, Daniel Pratt, James Raleigh, Troy Chaplin. and Daniel G in Syracuse.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
Why did Alistair Nicholson vote for Foggs as Coach of the Year?
0:00–1:30
2
How does the AFL Coaches Association voting process work for the Senior Coach of the Year award?
1:30–2:53
3
What award categories does the AFL Coaches Association recognise beyond the Senior Coach of the Year?
2:53–4:21
4
Why is the Neil Danaher Lifetime Achievement Award significant and who has received it?
4:21–6:51
5
What impact have recent senior‑coach exits (e.g., Alastair Clarkson) had on the coaching landscape?
6:51–8:33
6
How is former player Scott Pendlebury’s move into coaching being viewed by the association?
8:33–10:36
7
What initiatives are in place to develop young coaches and create pathways after the pandemic?
10:36–11:14
8
What are Alistair Nicholson’s final thoughts and predictions for tonight’s Coach of the Year winner?
11:14–11:21
Speakers
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