Australia will have a new International Rules manager for the autumn Test series in Australia. It has been confirmed that Dermott Brereton, who has coached the Australians for the past two years, is to step down from the position.
Wayne Jackson, the chief executive officer of the Australian Football League, made the announcement yesterday, saying that Brereton had notified the AFL he wished to relinquish the job for personal reasons after coaching the Australian side for two years.
The news could be positive from an Irish point of view, as Brereton had proved a very successful coach in the two years he held the position. A legendary former player with Hawthorn, he took over for the second year of the revived International Rules series in 1999.
He was the first Australian coach to have played the game, as a 19-year old member of the panel that travelled here for the first official series in 1984. A busy media career has precluded him from taking up any coaching positions within the Australian Rules code but the occasional commitment of the international role suited him well.
"The AFL had actually re-appointed Dermott several weeks ago and we were due to announce that earlier this week before he told us he wished to step down," Jackson said.
"Dermott did a fantastic job for us, both in raising the profile of the International Rules Series with his commitment to the role and, on the field, taking us to our first clean-sweep in Ireland last year. We have begun the process of interviewing candidates for the job and we would expect to be able to make an announcement on the Australian coaching position within the next week," he said.
Last year Brereton led his country to their first series victory in 13 years and the first since the idea was revived three years ago. As a coach he learned quickly and set about exploiting his players' advantage as full-time professionals.
Having viewed last year's All-Ireland final replay, he made the point that the players had tired visibly towards the end of the match and had been unable to deploy their skills as effectively as earlier in the match. After Australia recorded a comfortable, 2-0 series win in Dublin, he emphasised the point.
"It will be very healthy for Ireland to get a loss like this, because I believe you become the competition you're playing. If they were to win this series, they could almost become complacent that skills could do it for them.
"Skills didn't do it for them this time, and their fitness needs to come up, and until a coach gets hold of a Gaelic team and revolutionises, and they run through an entire match without a drop-off in the execution of skills because of the fatigue factor, they're going to stay where they are, which is pretty good. But once every two years or three years, now that the Australians have learned how to play this, they'll probably roll them."
On appointment he laid out his ambitions for the job. "If in 10 years and I'm not coaching this - which is highly likely - and I can look back and say we really participated in kick-starting this, and it's an enormous affair by then, I'll be very proud and happy."
Speculation on his successor is bound to centre on Jim Stynes, the former Dublin minor who retired from a successful playing career in Australia last year. Stynes has been Brereton's assistant in the last two series and his knowledge of both games gives him unrivalled expertise. Other former Australian coaches still active are David Parkin, currently director of football at Hawthorn, and Leigh Matthews, head coach of the Brisbane Lions.
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