Gold Coast GM – Football Operations, Marcus Ashcroft, has confirmed the club will embark on a thorough process before hiring a new senior coach after the GC SUNS and Guy McKenna parted ways on Wednesday.
Speaking on AFL Trade Radio, Ashcroft confirmed the club will not rush the appointment as it searches for just the second coach in its young history.
“We’re prepared to take our time and make sure we’ve got the right planning in place,” Ashcroft said.
“The only time pressures are what we want internally. Our players are due back in early November; we need to make sure we can hopefully find someone in that time period.
“I don’t think we need to be rushed. We’ve got a clear understanding as to the couple of key things we need in the coach going forward and we just need to make sure we don’t deviate from the plan. When we’re on plan, we’ll get the right person.
“We’ll have a lot of applicants, we know we will, because we think our list is ready to take the next step to be not only a finals participant, but a successful finals contender.”
Ashcroft – who undertook a review of the football department at the request of the board – said the club had gone through a very detailed process before Wednesday’s announcement.
“We don’t make decisions on a whim; we really consider decisions. We take our time,” he said.
“I guess you get to a point in time when you gather all the facts - as we do each year - and you present a set of facts to the board. Obviously there was enough evidence from their point of view to call a detailed review and make a tough decision in the best interests of the footy club.
“(Chairman) John (Witheriff), through his experience, wanted to make sure when we got to that end point, that all the decisions were considered, all the facts were laid on the table, and if it was going to take longer than two weeks or four weeks, that was going to be the case.
“I think if I was in the same situation (as McKenna); if we’re going to make a hard, tough decision for the footy club, all the facts were laid on the table and considerations were made on all different aspects.”
