Coach sackings are rarely edifying affairs but every now and then – Collingwood and Nathan Buckley spring to mind – they’re handled with a modicum of class and decency. Yet they’re almost always acrimonious. Stuart Dew’s sacking felt particularly grubby. It was a dog’s breakfast, really. He was made to look like a mug. They backed him, then sacked him.
The press release announcing his departure was farcical, even by footy departure standards. It made him sound like he’d just passed away. Footy coaches aren’t building orphanages or splitting atoms, but they’re entitled to some basic dignity. On his weekly radio slot with Neil Mitchell, Gil McLachlan said it “feels like a club that has decided to grow up in my view.” If that’s the view from the top, and to the best of my knowledge he’s still running this competition, then it’s a rather sad state of affairs.
