Discussion Ron Barassi Coaching Sydney

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aflcliche

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May 26, 2010
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I was too young at the time to be aware much of his impact and performance, but I remember it being huge news that he'd come out of retirement to coach again. I've since learnt that he is a life member of the club and improved the side each year in wins / losses. But I'm searching for more information about his time and impact as Sydney coach. How successful and impactful? Did he lead a culture change? Is it comparable to Roos at Melbourne or Sheedy at GWS? He was obviously old school, and mid 90s feels more like modern era than 60s, so was his style effective or evolved? Anyway, I'm just interested in the role he had. Any information, stories, recollections, sources of info is appreciated.

Thanks
 
I don't think he had much success, but he was a figure head much like Sheedy at GWS.

Ron was a big go for eventually 4 AFL clubs in Sydney, i personally can see 3 but 4 is a stretch IMO.
 
aflcliche said:
I was too young at the time to be aware much of his impact and performance, but I remember it being huge news that he'd come out of retirement to coach again. I've since learnt that he is a life member of the club and improved the side each year in wins / losses. But I'm searching for more information about his time and impact as Sydney coach. How successful and impactful? Did he lead a culture change? Is it comparable to Roos at Melbourne or Sheedy at GWS
Click to expand...

I think he turned the culture around but the list was totally shot. I think he just done it to help the club out but in truth he probably felt his time of full time coaching should have been in the past. However being the type of person he is, he just wanted to help out. He had mellowed out by this stage, nothing like the fire and brimestone guy of 10 to 20 years earlier. He set it up in a good way for the next guy to benefit from foundations he set up. I think Rodney Eade whom got Sydney into 1996 grand final when list was much better would be grateful Barassi turned the place into a real football club. Then others like Roos much later also benefit. The playing list Barassi was working with seriously was almost as poor as the one Pagan had at Carlton. A miracle they won any games at all.

At end of 1992 Swans were bottom of ladder with 3 wins and a draw and had not won a game for well over 12 games or something and that being against the bad news Bears at the time. Their list needed serious surgery done to it just to get close to winning again. By the time Barrassi took on their list their losing streak was over 20 games well into 1993 or something under Buckenara.
Buckenara maybe had 1 win from 25 games. The game previous to Barassi coming in , they lost by over 20 goals under caretaker coach Brett Scott I think. There was no young talent on list apart from Paul Kelly, Dale Lewis and Cresswell to speak of in their early stages of careers finding their feet. Their veterans were guys like Dennis Carroll and Neil Cordy and David Murphy over 30. Mark Bayes around 26 probably the only player that had experienced any type of success with a Swans team of 86-87 in finals over 5 years earlier when Edelsten spent big bucks on Diesel Williams, Healy, Neagle, Toohey, Bolton, Jim Edmond and Coleman. The fallout after all that went pear shaped was for Barrasi in his late 50's to solve?...lol... 1996 after Barrasi set the place on track they made a grand final with now Lockett, Roos, Kickett, Maxfield recruited plus 10 or so guys Barrassi set up their careers and the young talent in the door of O'Loughlin, Shannon Grant and Anthony Rocca that just arrived to what Barass had set up as he retired.

You cannot compare Sheedy to Barassi because Sheedy had a stellar list to work with of young talent but Sheedy was probably never going to be around to see it mature. But kudos to Sheedy too for helping out a club from start up for a few years. Sheedy like Barassi was starting to mellow but as not far out of the coaching caper as Barassi was when he came back to do the Sydney job.

I also think Barassi got Melbourne football club out of being cellar dwellars to ready to be half decent for John Northey next. I think Barassi has been a marvel at so many clubs. There is not a club he has been to that has not been made a thousands times better for him being part of it. He might not have had the obvious clear premiership connections he had at Carlton and North but he was massive influence of other clubs turning their club around from total shambles to being a chance of success down the track.

I do not think there is a better legacy at several football clubs like this guy has created.
 
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Got me fascinated to take a look back at how bad their list was in 1993 before Barassi come along to answer both the club and league SOS for some guidance.

You got basically Mark Bayes that seen all the Edelsten/Capper/Diesel Williams/Healy/Tom Hafey years and the quick rise in 1986 and 1987 after a massive raid of other clubs to get in 7 ready made players in the prime of their careers. Half of which were All-Australian level and 2 they went on to win Brownlow Medals and then after all the money dried up, those guys all gone, Bayes saw the bottom fall out of the place and if you think Gold Coast in a bad space now you got no idea what all types of strife Sydney as a club was in during early to mid 90s.

So we get to 1993, Barassi comes in what has he got to work with after seeing a 20 goal loss to North the week before ?
A 26 year old rebounder Bayes over 100 games, a raw boned Paul Kelly 58 games into his career that used to losses and only seen victory 11 times in 3 seasons. Dale Lewis 50 games the same, Darryn Cresswell on 12 games, project player Andrew Dunkley on 22 games and Troy Luff 21 honest toiler into his career and 7 game project ruck Greg Stafford. None of them would have been seen as elite draft prospects in their time. The rest were either soon going because too old or washed up, sadly injured in Jamie Lawson case or nowhere near good enough. Barassi had not coached since 1985....and nearing 60.

At the end of 1995 they actually had 8 wins and percentage of over 100%. Not sure how you get 8 wins and that percentage with virtually no time to even get youngsters into the club and ready in such a short space of time after the handful of players you had of any use, had experienced a losing streak over 20 games before you arrived. But the old fella got them 8 wins which must have looked like miracles to the inner sanctum of the time after what they witnessed only 18 months earlier.

The first time they could bring in some new players for Barassi to work with that proved of any worth was early draft pick Darren Gaspar, then Adam Hueskes, Wade Chapman and Simon Garlick. Still no Chris Judd types anywhere to speak of either to begin with or develop. Brad Seymour a local zone selection another project type. Fair to say he has no elite young talent of worth with during first 18 months. Character is one thing he can add and did!!!


brereton_gallery__470x308.jpg

So in the off season for 1994 season they brought some experienced help in Brereton whom was washed up broken down body and Derek Kickett and Filandia from Essendon.


At the end of 1994 season the Swans had 2 early draft picks and now started to get some elite young talent into the club of Shannon Grant and Anthony Rocca.
Similar time got Matthew Nicks with middle rounds picks and they lucked in with O'Loughlin a gem pick of 40's in the draft, a young zone selection of Leo Barry. They then got name recruit Tony Lockett from St.Kilda and Paul Roos from Fitzroy with uncontracted Peter Caven too from there.

So at the end of 1995 when he finished up he had at least passed on some good football lessons and advice to youngsters like Kelly, Lewis, Cresswell, Dunkley, Stafford and Luff and had enough time to make an imprint on fresh new blood of Grant, Rocca, Nicks, O'Loughlin, Hueskes, Gaspar, Chapman, Seymour and Barry.
With Lockett and Roos already stars Rodney Eade was given something to actually work with for 1996.
Three of Barassi's last 4 games as coach approaching 60 years of age were wins. This from a club that had only recently experienced a losing streak of over 20 games.

In 1996 Sydney made a grand final for first time in over 50 years.
Barassi may not have been coaching them as retired by then but he sure as hell set them well on their way from bottom of ladder to grand finalists in less than 3 years....
barassi_gallery__282x400.jpg

Sydney 1996 Grand Final side
B: 7 Brad Seymour 6 Andrew Dunkley 30 Mark Bayes
HB: 39 Adam Heuskes 1 Paul Roos 19 Michael O'Loughlin
C: 27 Wade Chapman 8 Daryn Cresswell 9 Shannon Grant
HF: 34 Troy Luff 17 Jason Mooney 3 Dale Lewis
F: 5 Craig O'Brien 4 Tony Lockett 11 Stuart Maxfield
Foll: 15 Greg Stafford 12 Kevin Dyson 14 Paul Kelly (c)
Int: 24 Derek Kickett 32 Daniel McPherson 29 Simon Garlick


Culture, legacy, character, you name it. Whatever the Bloods of last few decades have built up as a club to break a 72 year premiership drought it is on the foundations of what Barassi set up in those dark years of the mid 1990's.
 
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Great info again. Was there a Barassi - Eade succession plan? Was it always going to be a 3 year term? Was it regarded a success by the of his last season, with speculation he'd continue?
 
aflcliche said:
Great info again. Was there a Barassi - Eade succession plan? Was it always going to be a 3 year term? Was it regarded a success by the of his last season, with speculation he'd continue?
Click to expand...

Do not think there was ever speculation he would continue. It was 3 year appointment as caretaker virtually be the league itself. He was pushing 60 and only reluctantly come on board because Swans were so close to going belly up. He was part of a group picking the successor. He wanted a fresh young coach and Eade had been part of the success of Brisbane Bears winning their first silverware in 1991 as coach of Bears reserve team and assistant to senior coach Walls. He then spent 4 years at North as assistant coach to Denis Pagan , coached their reserves to flag too in 1995 and was seen as ready to be a senior coach then. Barassi decided he was their man and time was right.

You can read something about his time on Sydney Swans site.

http://www.sydneyswans.com.au/club/History/overview

Survival
Lack of footballing success and financial instability continued to dog the Club and on September 1, 1992 the owners of the Swans told the AFL that unless the Club was restructured it could not continue. A crucial AFL meeting on October 14 granted the Swans seven days to produce a plan for survival – a merger with North Melbourne being one of the options proposed by the AFL.

It was a momentous meeting on October 21, 1992. At 7.33pm, the Club’s survival was ensured when the other clubs voted that the AFL should waive the Swans’ outstanding license fee (almost $2 million), provide working capital to Sydney for three years, and award priority draft choices.

AFL intervention was launched emphatically early in the following season when the team’s losing streak extended to eighteen successive defeats and coach Gary Buckenara was replaced by Brett Scott as caretaker coach. On May 4, the AFL Commission led by Ross Oakley resolved that the Swans would revert to a traditional member-based system rather than continuing with private ownership, that AFL Executive Commissioner Alan Schwab would be appointed Executive Chairman of the Club, and that Ron Barassi would be appointed coach until the end of 1995.


Ron%20Barassi%20May%201993%202.jpg
The appointment of Ron Barassi as coach was crucial to the survival of the club.



Barassi and Eade deliver hope
On June 27, 1993, in Barassi’s seventh match as coach, Sydney broke its 26-game losing streak with a 40-point victory over the more favoured Melbourne. It seemed that the team and the Club had survived its lowest point.

After three successive wooden spoons from 1992-1994, with Barassi at the helm, Sydney finished the 1995 season in 12th position on the ladder. The team’s on-field performances were bolstered by the recruitment of Paul Roos and Tony Lockett, as well as the development of the Swans’ young players.

Meanwhile off the field, the Swans began to achieve stability under the administration of Chairman Richard Colless, who would go on to become the AFL’s longest-serving chairman.

Following the retirement from coaching of Ron Barassi, four-time Hawthorn Premiership player Rodney Eade was appointed coach. Eade took the Swans to their first Grand Final since 1945 in his first season as a senior coach.
1996%20Grand%20Final%20MCG.jpg
The 1996 AFL Grand Final was the first for the club since the move to Sydney.
 
I can remember the footage of Sydney singing the song after Barassi had coached his final game. One player ran forward when the singing was over and kissed Ron on the mouth. Wish I could recall who it was.
 
worbod said:
I can remember the footage of Sydney singing the song after Barassi had coached his final game. One player ran forward when the singing was over and kissed Ron on the mouth. Wish I could recall who it was.
Click to expand...

Jason Mooney, from memory. Ron had his glasses in his shirt pocket at the time and they got broken!

My recollection is it was from a game earlier that year (Mooney didn't play in Round 22), but you may be correct - that would've been the day they beat Collingwood to pave the way for the Brisbane Bears' first Finals appearance.
 
Minka Beaver said:
Jason Mooney, from memory. Ron had his glasses in his shirt pocket at the time and they got broken!

My recollection is it was from a game earlier that year (Mooney didn't play in Round 22), but you may be correct - that would've been the day they beat Collingwood to pave the way for the Brisbane Bears' first Finals appearance.
Click to expand...

I've always thought it was Barassi's last game (round 22), and that's why the player decided to kiss him, as a "farewell gesture".
 
footyfan78 said:
On May 4, the AFL Commission led by Ross Oakley resolved that the Swans would revert to a traditional member-based system rather than continuing with private ownership, that AFL Executive Commissioner Alan Schwab would be appointed Executive Chairman of the Club, and that Ron Barassi would be appointed coach until the end of 1995..
Click to expand...

Schwab died of a drug overdose in June 1993 in a Sydney hotel following a long Friday lunch at Canterbury Leagues Club with Moore and Bulldog president Barry "Punchy" Nelson. For the past nine years, "Punchy" has warned lunch guests at Canterbury - where mid-afternoon "cleansing ales" turn into late-night expensive ports in the club boardroom - "we've already killed one guest".
 
RDB gave the club some credibility when the locals in Sydney considered them a joke. Assistant coach Damian Drum has said that Barrassi needed a crash course in modern football systems and training methods when he got there but the whole exercise was worthwhile for the positive PR.
 

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Minka Beaver said:
Jason Mooney, from memory. Ron had his glasses in his shirt pocket at the time and they got broken!

My recollection is it was from a game earlier that year (Mooney didn't play in Round 22), but you may be correct - that would've been the day they beat Collingwood to pave the way for the Brisbane Bears' first Finals appearance.
Click to expand...

My recollection was that Barassi's glasses got broken after being hugged by then owner Mike Willisee after defeating Carlton in the first half of the year.
 
Re: the end of Barassi's tenure, I don't think it was specifically planned that he was always going to end his coaching reign at the end of 1995. It was only announced around two-thirds through the 1995 season that he was going to retire iirc. I'm pretty sure if he wanted to continue beyond that he probably would've, especially as the Swans were improving steadily under his tenure.

btw the Sydney/Geelong 1993 clash (where Richard Osborne was taken off in an ambulance in the final quarter) which was Barassi's third match in charge is uploaded in full on YT
 
footyfan78 said:
I think he turned the culture around but the list was totally shot. I think he just done it to help the club out but in truth he probably felt his time of full time coaching should have been in the past. However being the type of person he is, he just wanted to help out. He had mellowed out by this stage, nothing like the fire and brimestone guy of 10 to 20 years earlier. He set it up in a good way for the next guy to benefit from foundations he set up. I think Rodney Eade whom got Sydney into 1996 grand final when list was much better would be grateful Barassi turned the place into a real football club. Then others like Roos much later also benefit. The playing list Barassi was working with seriously was almost as poor as the one Pagan had at Carlton. A miracle they won any games at all.

At end of 1992 Swans were bottom of ladder with 3 wins and a draw and had not won a game for well over 12 games or something and that being against the bad news Bears at the time. Their list needed serious surgery done to it just to get close to winning again. By the time Barrassi took on their list their losing streak was over 20 games well into 1993 or something under Buckenara.
Buckenara maybe had 1 win from 25 games. The game previous to Barassi coming in , they lost by over 20 goals under caretaker coach Brett Scott I think. There was no young talent on list apart from Paul Kelly, Dale Lewis and Cresswell to speak of in their early stages of careers finding their feet. Their veterans were guys like Dennis Carroll and Neil Cordy and David Murphy over 30. Mark Bayes around 26 probably the only player that had experienced any type of success with a Swans team of 86-87 in finals over 5 years earlier when Edelsten spent big bucks on Diesel Williams, Healy, Neagle, Toohey, Bolton, Jim Edmond and Coleman. The fallout after all that went pear shaped was for Barrasi in his late 50's to solve?...lol... 1996 after Barrasi set the place on track they made a grand final with now Lockett, Roos, Kickett, Maxfield recruited plus 10 or so guys Barrassi set up their careers and the young talent in the door of O'Loughlin, Shannon Grant and Anthony Rocca that just arrived to what Barass had set up as he retired.

You cannot compare Sheedy to Barassi because Sheedy had a stellar list to work with of young talent but Sheedy was probably never going to be around to see it mature. But kudos to Sheedy too for helping out a club from start up for a few years. Sheedy like Barassi was starting to mellow but as not far out of the coaching caper as Barassi was when he came back to do the Sydney job.

I also think Barassi got Melbourne football club out of being cellar dwellars to ready to be half decent for John Northey next. I think Barassi has been a marvel at so many clubs. There is not a club he has been to that has not been made a thousands times better for him being part of it. He might not have had the obvious clear premiership connections he had at Carlton and North but he was massive influence of other clubs turning their club around from total shambles to being a chance of success down the track.

I do not think there is a better legacy at several football clubs like this guy has created.
Click to expand...

What a coaching legacy.
I seem to remember Sydney begging him to go up there to save them.
They were on their knees.
He refused to accept until he had all management acquisitions on his terms.(someone else can fill the blanks)
Comparing to his time at previous clubs he was well mellowed at this point of his career.
A very different Ron.
Clearly a mentoring role with a body of work starting from the ocean floor of the titanic.
One that will be borrowed for future clubs to follow.
 
Richard Osborne (Fitzroy, Sydney, Footscray, Collingwood) has some interesting anecdotes about Barassi. I'm sourcing these from the book, Footy's Greatest Coaches. One is that one of the first things he did when he came to Sydney was to get Anthony Robbins to speak to the playing group. Osborne says that despite a lot of cynicism in the group the talk ended up going on for two hours longer than intended because the players were so impressed. Osborne also notes that Barassi was very open to feedback from players concerning playing style, game plans etc. and would use that feedback. His third interesting anecdote concerns Barassi's attention to detail: he showed players how to tie their laces on the side of their shoes so that the knot wouldn't affect the trajectory of the ball when it was kicked. Finally, Osborne points out that Barassi was an excellent communicator and was at ease with the highest and the lowest in society. (And having had Barassi strike up a conversation with me out of the blue I can attest to some of that myself!)
 
worbod said:
I can remember the footage of Sydney singing the song after Barassi had coached his final game. One player ran forward when the singing was over and kissed Ron on the mouth. Wish I could recall who it was.
Click to expand...

They showed this footage last night on Channel 7 on that "Footy's Funniest" show. You could see the number 2 on the back of the player, which therefore means the kisser in question was Dean McRae.
 
You want to hear Buckenara talk on this subject. He said in the time he was at the club, they gave him nothing. He would have do a lot of things coaches should never have to do because he had nobody to help him. Things like mixing drinks, sweeping floors, etc. The moment they appointed Barassi, the AFL offered all the support Buckenara had been asking for. I've always been one who feels Barassi gets a little too much credit for his achievements in football. Where he helped Sydney was in terms of profile rather than coaching ability. I'd like to see how far he would have got at North Melbourne without the 10 year rule and the generous cheques of Bob Ansett and associates.
 
One player that doesn't get a lot of credit for his time there is Simon Minton-Connell. Apparently when Carlton told him he was off to Sydney, he had a "look of death" on his face and was mortified, but he gave it his absolute best shot at the time there. Straightened them up enormously with forward movement until Lockett arrived - remember those long sleeves and the number 8 steaming out of the square, on the end of some very ordinary delivery at times.
 
aflcliche said:
Great info again. Was there a Barassi - Eade succession plan? Was it always going to be a 3 year term? Was it regarded a success by the of his last season, with speculation he'd continue?
Click to expand...

I don't think "succession plan" came into vogue until I think Roos invented it at Sydney in the late-ish 2000s when he was preparing to hand over to Longmire? Then Collingwood did it and GWS have done it and Melbourne now also (again with Roos).

From memory, Eade was the gun assistant coach of the day and had impressed in coaching the Allies' win over WA in State of Origin in 1995 and was the Sydney assistant of the time, so seemed like the right man for the job after Barassi.

I also recall Leigh Matthews, much like Barassi for the Swans, being the AFL pushed coach to fix Brisbane after they dropped off following their mid 90s rise. Maybe I'm remembering that wrong?
 
jorel6669 said:
I don't think "succession plan" came into vogue until I think Roos invented it at Sydney in the late-ish 2000s when he was preparing to hand over to Longmire? Then Collingwood did it and GWS have done it and Melbourne now also (again with Roos).
Click to expand...


David Parkin brought this in around 1999 and 2000 when basically trying to hand baton over to Wayne Brittian at the time.

So Roos certainly did not invent it at all.

Parkin himself probably got the idea from someone like Barassi anyway.
 
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One thing Barassi was instrumental in doing at the club was ensuring that all involved at the place all became part of the club. He said when he arrived that he was amazed at how little respect some of the players seemed to have for the support staff there such as trainers and equipment stewards. Apparently he told the players that the club was built on the back of people like this and set them the task of learning all of the names of all of the support staff and at random times in training would bring a player to the front of the group and point at a support staff member to see if the player knew their name. Seems like such a small thing now but when he arrived Sydney was in an utter mess and part of it looked to be a disjoint between so many facets of the place.
 
footyfan78 said:
David Parkin brought this in around 1999 and 2000 when basically trying to hand baton over to Wayne Brittian at the time.

So Roos certainly did not invent it at all.

Parkin himself probably got the idea from someone like Barassi anyway.
Click to expand...
Parkin argued at the time he was copying what he and John Kennedy had done in the late 70s.
 
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