Rain hammers down on top of Rodney Eade’s office. It’s relentless and amplified by the fact the former Sydney Swans and Western Bulldogs mentor now sits behind a desk inside a portable building in Carrara. A world away from the sumptuous Westpac Centre where he most recently worked. But, only in terms of administration facilities and not on-field talent.
When Eade accepted the job in late October, some media pundits suggested he’d received Willy Wonka’s golden ticket. With so many young stars at his disposal, Eade’s long-held pursuit of a premiership suddenly appeared within reach. But, in this world, nothing is a given. Hard work trumps talent, regardless of how many high draft picks go to work at your club on a daily basis. One only needs to look at the amount of drafting blunders at Melbourne to realise you can’t bank on high draftees transforming into premiership superstars.
At 56, Eade’s appointment bucked a recent trend of employing younger men, supposedly more in tune with this generation of players who are far more sensitive than their predecessors. No longer can you afford not to invest in the lives of your players away from football. Three coaches fell on their sword for this very reason in a messy end to 2014.
For the Melbourne football fraternity, the process associated with building a club from the ground up is difficult to fully understand. Especially when you consider these clubs aren’t being erected in Richmond or Norwood or even Subiaco. The SUNS and Greater Western Sydney have been nurtured in unprosperous land. The challenge is lost in football dominant environments. It is a daily battle to develop a supporter base and build basic football awareness and knowledge. And it is not something that will happen overnight, but something the club and governing body are committed to building in the right manner.
Rodney Eade (left) holds up the 1991 AFL Reserves premiership as coach of the Brisbane Bears reserves.
More than two decades ago, at the tail end of his playing career, Eade played out of this very ground where we currently sit, with the rain still hammering down on the tin roof. His previous experience in the glitter strip, coupled with his coaching experience in Sydney, gave him a deep insight into the challenge of being involved with a football club in a non-dominant heartland.
“Coaching and living in Sydney you get used to that a little bit and having played up here with the Brisbane Bears you just know it’s a tough market in many ways, its not an AFL-centric environment,” Eade told goldcoastfc.com.au.
“I’ve really been really pleased the way the club has been set up. It’s based on people and their values are pretty strong. And I think they've connected with the community here on the Gold Coast, which is going to stand us in good stead for the long term.
“I’ve been really pleased with the attitude of the players, having been here with the Brisbane Bears; sometimes the players' mind wasn’t totally on footy. But the players here have really embraced what it takes to play AFL footy.”
Rocket shares a laugh with journalists at Tuesday's press conference.
Five months have passed since Eade first began this chapter of his life and he admits being impressed by the quality of the people at the club. Not just in the football department, but throughout the administration team. For a man who has spent all of adult life inside the four walls of a football club, he is well equipped to comment on the importance of building a strong culture across the club. Especially given the fact the Gold Coast SUNS are in their infancy and must build their club in the right manner from the beginning to ensure it remains sustainable during good times and bad.
“The people have impressed me the most, just the attitude, not only the footballers or the footy staff, but the whole admin staff. Everyone seems to be on the same page; they’re working together which is great. Sometimes at clubs there can be a divide, but that doesn’t seem to exist here,” Eade said.
“If you set your values in place and you’re consistent with that and your behaviours across the board, that people know what they’ve got to do and they buy in, so it’s been good.”
On the eve of his first game as Gold Coast senior coach – the second coach in the club’s short history – Eade has a more balanced approach to his job than during his earlier time at the Swans. Football is his life and has always been his life, but with age and experience, he is now capable of stepping away from the raw emotion attached to the cut and thrust reality of AFL football.
In the weeks leading into accepting his third senior coaching role, Eade remained tight-lipped on the prospect of him crossing back over to the dark side. As General Manager of Football Operations at Collingwood, he was still heavily involved in the day-to-day life of a team, but he was shielded from the scrutiny and forensic examination that is simply part of being an AFL coach. People weren’t calling for his head, nor were they critiquing his ability to read the game. He had faded into the background a little, but the embers in his fire had not gone out.
His appointment came as no surprise to the football world. The SUNS needed a wise older head, someone who had been successful for an extended period of time. Gold Coast got their man in Eade. And the man has appeared cool, calm and collected since his arrival, not flustered by the demands placed on him or the external expectations of the media.
“I think the way it all happened, where I didn’t think I'd ever coach again, there was no expectation or pressure by myself,” Eade said.
“As far as when you first start, you really when to jump head first in and your life depends on win-loss, even though I want to win, I’m a bit more relaxed about it all so I think I will enjoy it.”
You get the sense; Saturday afternoon will be business as usual for Eade. With five first-time players running out onto the game's epicentre, the fact that it will also be his first appearance in the evolving red and gold tapestry will hold little significance.
He’s not here for praise or accolades; he’s here to get the job done.
