In conspiring against Justin Longmuir as a player, the footy gods inadvertently created a smooth path for him to become a senior coach.
Drafted at No.2 overall behind Des Headland in the 1998 national draft, Longmuir felt he was unable to perform to the lofty expectations due to a degenerative knee injury which flared badly even before the first of 139 matches.
Longmuir, 39, appointed as Ross Lyon's replacement as coach at Fremantle late last year, has told In The Game with Damian Barrett that he knew he wanted to be a coach from early in his playing career.
"I always say that I enjoy coaching much more than I did as a player because of the fact that I had to deal with expectation," Longmuir said.
"And I didn't deal with the expectation that well, as a player, and always had this thought process in the back of my mind that I was never fit enough because I could never do the work and never get on the track.
"And yeah, I suppose having the expectation of being number two draft pick hanging over your head adds to that. And that set me up well really for my coaching career. I kind of feel like as a player I didn't get things easy. I had to go through a lot of challenges and that set me up to come at coaching from a compassionate angle, I suppose."
After retiring from playing at 26, Longmuir spent time with West Perth, Fremantle, West Coast and Collingwood as an assistant coach.
"I think a lot of it was sort-of runs on the board, I mean, I've spoken a bit in the past about my apprenticeship and I've worked at some pretty successful clubs and worked in a lot of different areas at those clubs and had some really good experiences along the way and learnt from a lot of good people," Longmuir said.
"And I think a big part of my pitch was my ability to build relationships to get the best out of my players. And I think relationships is a word that's bandied around way too much. But I feel like I've been able to build that genuine care with the players that I've worked with. And that genuine care allows you to have honest conversations, and honest two-way conversations.
"I'm about empowering. A large part of my leadership style is really to do myself out of a job."
In the In The Game interview, Longmuir also:
- REVEALED that he regularly entered AFL matches unsure if his knee would get him through, such was the fragile and painful state relating to loss of cartilage;
- SAID last season's Dockers' best-and-fairest winner Michael Walters was "as good I've seen" in his ability to "lift a training session, be it his voice or his intensity";
- SPOKE of his special relationship, formed when the two were assistant coaches at West Coast, with Phil Walsh.
