Earl Spalding Q&A

Ahead of his first summer as head coach of the Perth Football Club I caught up with Earl Spalding about the plans for the preseason, recruits and game plans.  Here's what he had to say.

Andrew Owen:  Earl congratulations on being announced as the league coach of the Perth Football Club for the next three years.

Earl Spalding:  Look it’s a great challenge in the present obviously and the club has meant a fair bit to me in the past.  Hopefully we are going to have a fair bit of success.

AO:  Have you had a chance to speak to the playing group yet?

ES:  I have spoken to the playing squad very briefly.  I am trying to get through individually now talking to the guys on a needs basis and I’m looking forward to catching up with them all in the next month.

AO:  It’s been two weeks since you were appointed.  What have you been doing in that time?  I’m sure there have been plenty of meetings with preseason fast approaching.

ES:  We have had a few meetings, obviously with the football manager looking at recruiting and that has been probably our major focus at this stage just trying to bolster the squad with some talls and some good midfielders.  This has been the focus for the first two weeks and I have obviously been trying to catch up with some guys who may be looking to leave and hopefully trying to change their minds.

AO:  Would that be the outgoing football manager in Brendan Kays?

ES:  Yes it’s Brendan.  He only just finished up last Friday so I was working pretty closely with him and he was still working hard to get some quality recruits to the club.

AO:  Have you decided on your coaching team for next year or are those decisions still yet to be made?

ES:  We are still waiting to appoint a fitness coach, which hopefully we are able to do in the next week or two.  We are looking at one more assistant but we are in no hurry there, we are just going to wait for the right person and also a reserves coach which we are about to make an announcement shortly on.

AO:  Earl it has been a while since you last coached at WAFL level.  How have you changed as a coach during this time?

ES:  After East Fremantle I spent seven years down at the Fremantle Football Club just learning and working in different areas there with the forwards and also the midfielders when I was doing the ruck work.  I have also spent the last five years at Wesley Curtin Amateur Football Club coaching in my own right.  I would like to think that I am more mature as a person and have a better rounded understanding of the game.

AO:  Do you have a preference has to how you like your teams to play football?

ES:  Well winning is always good.  I am fairly big on structure and playing to structures and understanding your role within that structure.  Also I prefer good ball movement.  It is important that the guys can buy into that and hopefully I’m sure they will and we will have a pretty well disciplined side.

AO:  The team has already lost Captain Paul Bevan, Matthew Moody, Nick Kane, Jared Risol and Brad Fry.  Have any other players left the squad?

ES:  Not at this stage no.  We are reasonably confident that we will be able to keep the rest of group together and as I said before add to it.  Obviously there are a few holes there but it also means that we have a few 10-point vacancies and we will be certainly looking to fill those with some quality.

AO:  That’s a lot of experience to loose from a team that finished ninth.  How much space is there to move in the points cap in the off season in regards to recruiting for 2015 and trying to fill as many holes in the squad as possible?

ES:  I think we are in the mid thirties at this stage in terms of what is available to go and fill the side with.  If you get three 10-point players that doesn’t leave you much, that just means that we have to be smart with our recruiting and that might also mean that some guys might be a bit vulnerable too if they are taking up points and not performing.

AO:  What type of players are you looking to recruit to the club?  Is there a certain type of player that you see as a necessity that the club must go and recruit for 2015?

ES:  It has been well documented that most clubs would like a couple of tall forwards and tall backs and we are obviously trying to attract one or two of those and some quality midfielders just to help.  We lost a few with injury last year, one being the previous best and fairest winner in Brett Hodge.  We are hoping that he will be back and ready to go but he will need some help as well.

AO:  Are we close to possibly announcing any new recruits?

ES:  I take a pessimistic view to that sort of stuff.  I am one of those guys who leave the announcement until I see them run out for their first game in the red and black but I am sure we will have some news before that happens.  I am pretty sure that before Christmas we will be able to at least announce one.

AO:  What will be you and the coaching staff’s main focus during preseason?

ES:  We will be focussed on building up there base.  The coaches from last year tell me in their mind that the players weren’t fit enough so we need to certainly work on that and then obviously the way we want to move the ball and the way we want to structure up.  We also want to work on our inside game and make sure that the guys can compete one-on-one and compete in a confined space.

AO:  Elaborating on what you just said what do you think needs to happen between now and March next year or needs to click within the playing squad for the team to improve on the three wins they had this year and obviously losing the last fourteen games in a row?

ES:  I think if you analyse it they were in front in eight of those seventeen games in the last quarter and managed to lose all eight.  If you can win three quarters of those then your season is not as bad and then hopefully as I said getting the group to really bye into the way we want to play and they will take ownership of that as well.  We certainly want their input into how they think they can play and once again being able to understand what their capabilities are individually and how that can best benefit the side and not try and stray outside those capabilities.  This will hopefully hold the team in good stead.  It is all about playing your role and playing your role well and I am sure from the guys that I have spoken to so far there is a bit of a hunger around which is good to see.  That is one of the requirements obviously to be successful.  If we can get more than the core group of players with that we will be ok, we will be competitive at least and we will work on it from there.

AO:  Earl all the best and I’m sure we will catch up with you over the summer.

ES:  No worries at all.