SACKED: AFL

Sheedy, Clarkson, Malthouse, Pagan, Thomas, Frawley, Blight, Bailey, McCartney, Lyon.

To close out season 5 of Sacked: AFL, we’ve gone back and delved deeper into the 10 greatest modern coach sackings since 2000.

And who better to come on that journey than a pair of esteemed journos who saw it all happen up close, and, at times, were the first to know.

Jon ‘Ando’ Anderson was there at some of the most important sporting events for the Herald Sun over the past four decades and is still a key member of the Sunday Herald Sun team with his weekly Ando’s Shout.

Bruce ‘Beva’ Eva is a Saints tragic and has seen it all since he began on the Herald sports desk in the late ‘80s and has gone on to Inside Football, SEN and now, 3AW.

We share highlights from past episodes across all five seasons of Sacked: AFL.

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Damian Drum spent more time as the next AFL coach in waiting than he did in the hot seat given he was up for roles as coach of the Swans, Demons and almost had the Collingwood job before moving to Fremantle.

In one of the most notorious coach axings in AFL history, Drum learned of his sacking on live TV -  just 9 games into his third season in the top job.

And yet, it allowed the former shed builder to embark on his most consequential role yet - two decades as a member of state and federal parliament.

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Damian Drum was a late-bloomer when he was plucked out of bush footy by Geelong at the age of 20 and spent eight frustrating seasons battling to 63 games.

And yet, it was only another injury sustained in the 1989 Preliminary Final that denied him the notorious role on Dermott Brereton eventually performed by Mark Yates in the opening moments of the famous 89 Grand Final.

Drum would eventually become famous as the last one to know he’d been sacked as Fremantle coach, but that journey got its start in Sydney as an assistant at the Swans, as the right-hand of the man who couldn’t lie, Ron Barassi.

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Mal Michael played 238 games including the historic three-peat of premierships with the Brisbane Lions.

But it might never have happened in the first place.

PNG born Michael was brought from his hometown of Brisbane to Collingwood with no promises and very little money but was able to turn himself into the fearsome full-back of the Lions dynasty.

And yet, it is the one that got away - their chance of four in a row in 2004 - that stayed with Michael for years.

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 Alastair Lynch played over 300 games for Fitzroy, the Brisbane Bears and then the Brisbane Lions in a career that spanned 16 years.
It was a career that had incredible highs, devastating lows and one five minute brain fade right at the end.

A three time premiership player with the Lions, Lynch spent much of the mid to late 90s in bed with chronic fatigue having previously broken Roys fans hearts by signing a notorious 10 year contract to defect to the Brisbane Bears in 1993.

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Nathan Burke has been involved in elite football across five decades and was involved in some of the biggest stories in that time.

Towards the end of his playing career, Burke had a seat at the table for the incredible recruitment of Malcolm Blight as senior Saints coach and he was at the Saints through the tumult that was the Thomas and Lyon eras.

Burke was also at the business end of the early days of the AFLW as coach of the Western Bulldogs.

And don’t forget his role in helping Trent Cotchin to beat a suspension in the lead up to the 2017 Grand Final in his time on the  Match Review Panel.

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Nathan Burke played 323 games with St Kilda across three decades, and took the field with some of the best of the modern era - Lockett, Frawley, Harvey, Winmar, Loewe.
He captained the club and played in a heartbreaking Grand Final loss in 1997 but was in teams that finished in the bottom four as much as they spent in contention.

And when his playing career was over, it was a seat on the Saints board that brought him back to Moorabbin, and a front row seat to the turmoil that was the end of Ross Lyon’s first tenure as Saints coach.

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Daniel Harford was a top 10 draft pick and Vic Metro under 18 captain when he was taken by the Hawks.

Harford went on to play 153 games in the brown and gold (and nine in a single season with Carlton).

He was cocky and sure of himself with a good dose of self deprecation, that made Harford a favourite of the footy variety shows of the late 90s and early 2000s. 

The larrikin nature prepared him perfectly for a life as a breakfast radio host, but it was his footy smarts that gave Harford the edge as senior coach of the Blues AFLW team.

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Paul Roos played 356 AFL games for Fitzroy and Sydney as well as many in the Big V for Victoria across 17 years as a player.

And as a coach he delivered the Swans a 72 year drought-breaking premiership in 2005 and was instrumental in the rebuild of Melbourne that ultimately culminated in the 2021 flag.

In this episode, Roos details his journey from Fitzroy to the Swans and Ralphy’s part in his announcement as saviour of the Demons.

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David Noble played just two games of AFL footy with Fitzroy in the early ‘90s, but it was off the field that he truly made his mark as an assistant coach, recruiter and administrator and finally the monumental task of coaching cellar dwelling North Melbourne.

In this episode, Noble details his football and personal journey from Hobart to Brisbane and the challenges he and his family have faced along the way.

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