THERE are two ways to look at the sacking of Kyneton coach Mark Adamson and the reason given for it by Tigers’ president Rob Waters.
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Adamson was sacked as the Tigers coach earlier this week, with the club issuing a statement on its website on Tuesday night that read he had “failed to meet the standards required to be the leader of the Tigers”.
Waters confirmed on Wednesday morning those standards related to Adamson missing a Sunday morning recovery session last weekend following the Tigers’ 68-point loss to Golden Square the previous day.
The players were there, the coach wasn’t and according to Waters, that’s simply not good enough.
Fair enough, for coaches are there to set the standards for players to follow, and in the case of Kyneton, in particular, it must be strong in its off-field actions.
In the wake of the club announcing in February, 2013, that it was pulling out its senior side from the BFL that year, the constant theme in the aftermath of the decision was the club needed to change its culture if it was to move forward and put behind it years of on-field struggles that eventually, wore the Tigers down.
While the club has every right to make the decision it did to move Adamson on, it would also appear he has paid a hefty price for missing one Sunday training session with the loss of the job.
When pressed if there was more to the story, Waters insisted the missed session was the catalyst for the decision and that “Addo was going to be coaching out the rest of the year until last Sunday.”
While coaches come and go, adding to the drama of the sacking is the timing and the position the Tigers are in with a month left in the home and away season.
Adamson took on one of country Victoria’s toughest coaching gigs in June, 2013, of rebuilding a Kyneton side that had been taken off the park that season because of a lack of numbers.
But just over two years later Adamson had the Tigers on the cusp of a long-awaited return to finals footy for the first time in 12 years with Kyneton a game clear in fifth spot with four rounds of the BFL season to play.
The Tigers have made a hard call – the fallout now and it’s impact on their push to the finals under new coach Luke Beattie will be intriguing to follow.