Jock McHale
There is a reason premiership coaches in the AFL receive the Jock McHale medal. Jock is a legendary figure of the game. A coach at the most famous club from 1912 to 1949, 37 seasons that produced 8 premierships including an unmatched four in a row between 1927 and 1930. He is a Legend in the Australian Football Hall of Fame and obviously coach of Collingwood’s Team of the Century.
Beyond these powerful statistics, his coaching DNA along with his one time protégé, and eventual nemesis, Dan Minogue can be found in the majority of V/AFL premierships won since the 1920s.
It is a game the whole family can play. Pick a premiership, find the coaching DNA connection to Jock McHale and see how many premiership cups you can collect along the way.
Given the Collingwood connection we will start with their most recent success in 2023.
Craig McRae (1 premiership) who was coached at Brisbane by Leigh Matthews (4 Premierships) who was coached at Hawthorn by David Parkin (4 Premierships) who was also coached at Hawthorn by John Kennedy (3 Premierships) who was coached at Hawthorn by Bob McCaskill (0 premierships) who was coached at Richmond by Dan Minogue (2 Premierships) who was coached by Jock McHale. That’s five steps of coaching DNA back to Jock and 14 premierships, not counting Jock’s. We lose one point for going via Bob McKaskill for a total of 13 points. (Bob McCaskill did coach Sandhurst to 9 premierships between 1927 to 1940 before starting his VFL coaching career, but we are only counting V/AFL premierships in this game.)
Another example in the news is Simon Goodwin who coached Melbourne to their drought-breaking premiership in 2021 before getting the sack this year. Let’s follow his premiership coaching DNA back to Jock McHale.
Simon Goodwin (1 premiership) was coached at Adelaide by Malcolm Blight (2 Premierships) who was coached at North Melbourne by Ron Barassi (4 Premierships) who was coached at Melbourne by Norm Smith (6 premierships) who was coached at Melbourne by Frank ‘Checker’ Hughes (5 Premierships) who was coached at Richmond by Dan Minogue (2 Premierships) who was coached by Jock McHale. That’s 5 steps of coaching DNA to Jock with 20 premierships (not counting Jock’s) and no points lost along the way for a score of 20.
Alistair Clarkson may yet add to his tally of four premierships if North can rise to the top of the ladder but until then we can still play the game to track his premiership coaching DNA.
Alistair Clarkson (4 premierships) was coached at North Melbourne by John Kennedy (3 premierships) who was coached at Hawthorn by Bob McCaskill (0 premierships) who was coached at Richmond by Dan Minogue (2 Premierships) who was coached by Jock McHale. That’s only 3 coaching DNA steps back to Jock but still 9 premierships. Again we lose a point from the Bob McCaskill step so a score of 8. If you are playing against someone else and scores are tied, then the least steps wins.
As shown by these examples, Dan Minogue provides a frequent step back to Jock. Dan coached 332 games across 6 clubs for two premierships and 27 VFL coaches played under his leadership, a record unlikely to be broken. Yet it is possible to get back to Jock without going via Dan and Damien Hardwick is one example.
Damien Hardwick (3 premierships) was coached at Essendon by Kevin Sheedy (4 Premierships) who was coached at Richmond by Tom Hafey (4 Premierships) who was coached at Richmond by Alby Pannam (0 Premierships) who was coached by Jock McHale. That’s only three Coaching DNA steps back to Jock and 11 premierships. We lose a point from the Alby Pannam step so a score of 10.
There are exceptions to the rule of whom reigning premiership coach Chris Fagan is the most recent example, but they seem to be rare. If you want to play the game yourself, just pick a year and the premiership coach and see if you can follow the trail back. It might help to have a table of that lists every club and their coach by year and you can find that here V/AFL Coaches by year – Grand Final History.
Have fun, and when the 2025 Jock McHale medal is presented I am quite sure, unless Brisbane win, there will be some of Jock McHale’s coaching DNA in the mix and probably some of Dan Minogue’s.
To read more by Grand Final History click HERE.
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