If you were one of the captivated audience members watching filmmaker Peter Dickson’s extraordinary documentary last Friday night, ‘The Chosen Few’ you will have gained a unique insight into the lives of senior AFL coaches.  Aired on the the Seven Network, Dickson was given unprecedented access to lives of coaches including Brad Scott, Ken Hinkley, Brenton Sanderson, Guy McKenna, Nathan Buckley and almost every current AFL senior coach.  It also featured some past senior coaches including Scott Watters, John Worsfold, Michael Voss, and insights from great coaching legends including Denis Pagan, Ron Barassi, David Parkin, Leigh Matthews and John Kennedy snr.

Apart from providing greater insight into the unique qualities and personalities of senior AFL coaches, the documentary also touched on a key area affecting the lives of all AFL coaches, whether employed at assistant or senior level – work/life balance.

Work/Life balance is a foreign concept for many AFL coaches.  Often coaches ask their players to look after themselves, rest, get enough sleep, spend time with family, take some time away from the club, but rarely do they afford themselves the same luxury.  It was little surprise to us then that at the AFL Coaches Association Conference last week, where Infront presented, that AFL Coaches cited ‘work/life balance’ as the single most important factor for job satisfaction, when selecting their next job opportunity.

The concept of work/life balance was extended to whether the culture of the club was supportive of coaches’ health and respectful of time with family.  It also focussed on the leadership of the senior coach and whether they set positive expectations with regards to work/life balance.  Some coaches spoke of club cultures that required matches to be meticulously reviewed between finishing a Saturday night game and arriving at the club early on Monday morning  – the sort of schedule that makes a Sunday family dinner very difficult to achieve.  Some spoke of senior coaches who were disciplined in their approach to hours at the club and led by example, as well as those who subscribed to the theory that fresh heads can contribute more than weary souls.

There is no doubt that the passion AFL coaches have for their sport drives this work ethic and desire to be immersed in the game.  Their dedication and discipline is second to none.  So too does the competitive nature of obtaining an AFL coaching job and the desire to remain employed in one in the long term.  But do longer hours equal more effective work?  Or can a better work/life balance for all AFL coaches lead to more sustainable, fulfilling and healthy careers?

Infront Sports Consulting has worked with AFL coaches to prepare for and achieve successful career transition within sport and outside of sport since 2010.

Article by Erin Devlin.