Wow what a week it has been in football!

Well so far this week we have another coach that has bitten the dust (starts humming Queen's another one bites the dust), Dean Laidley. This had been building up for a while that something was going to happen, but to be honest I didn't think that it would be this soon. The whole round 16 be kicked out or get out scenario was probably what was going to happen. But the funniest thing about this is that it had been on the cards for longer than we thought. The whole reason why there was a round 16 clause was because he really didn't want to be there, and his comments that this was an exciting time at the club was an indicator all along that he was going to leave anyway.

When I heard the news that Dean Laidley was quitting, it went down more as a shock than Terry Wallace. We knew all along that Terry Wallace was going to go it was just a matter of when but with Dean Laidley we didn't see that comming as much.

So that leaves 2 coaching jobs vacant! The first time that has happened in a while. It makes you wonder who is going to coach who. We have the Mr Caretakers as I like to call them, Jade (The Blade, cool knickname eh) Rawlings for Richmond and Darren (a little help from my friends) Crocker, sorry that's Joe Cocker, hmm should have thought of that more carefully. My question is will any of these be coaching next year. Well we haven't seen Joe...I mean Darren in action yet but the likes of Jade Rawlings could be in contention.

Let's look at the candidates for a sec, apart from the caretakers. Names that pop up like Nathan Buckley and Kevin Sheedy to me are out of the question. Why? Well look at Nathan Buckley, sure he knows his stuff but to me he's not ready to coach. The difference between him and Michael Voss is that Voss went about things on Channel 10 like he knew heaps about the game and well that gamble this year has paid dividends. Nathan needs more time in the coaching circle for him to be in the running for a coaching role, maybe as an assistant coach. Next you have Kevin Sheedy. I respect Kevin Sheedy for what he has done, but to me he is too old for the coaching role. Mind you he probably can do wonders for a club like Richmond, goodness knows they need it, but I would put him in a developing role. It could be a fairytale for Kevin to go back to punt road but to be honest I don't think it would happen.

So who are the candidates? Damien Hartwick has been a bridesmaid for so long and I think is ready to take on a senior coaching role. He's still young and is a midfield coach for Hawthorn. He got overlooked for Essendon, instead them going for Matthew Knights which was a good choice with their list and all. To me I can see him going to North Melbourne rather than Richmond however you never know at the end of the day.

There is also those connected with Geelong to consider. Ken Hinkley former Geelong player and assistant coach there now. He has done his apprenticeship well and has worked under one of the best coaches in the league at the moment who has said that he could be the next coach of the cats. Another good candidate would be Leigh Tudor who is now an assistant coach at St Kilda, obviously doing a fantastic job considering where they are at the moment. He also coached the Geelong VFL side to the 2007 premiership.

John Longmire would be a good choice to go back to Arden Street. The Sydney assistant coach is another that has been overlooked many times for senior roles and I think is ready to take it on now. Another they say is in contention is Todd Viney of whom I have respected as a player and is an assistant at Adelaide.

To me you need to look at the years that a potential coach has had in the game, that may include games played and if they have any coaching experience. The likes of an untried coach to me is a huge gamble although it did work with Michael Voss, who is to say that it will pay off again. Another scenario is that maybe Dean Laidley might coach Richmond next year...think about it, it's not exactly out of the question.

Talk to you later!