Smith relishes time to help his players
THE brighter side of hanging up the boots has dawned on Jesse Smith as he embarks on coaching Portarlington off the foot of the Bellarine Football League ladder.
The 32-year-old former Carlton midfielder has resigned himself to life behind the clipboard — a broken hand against Newcomb in Round 8 the last straw in an injury-riddled two seasons yielding only nine games.
Smith is one of the unlucky ones who has had his body let him down but it could be a blessing in disguise as he looks to establish a winning culture as coach heading into two more seasons in charge.
After going through the tough conversations in his head and the emotion of his decision, it is now time to be upfront with his players and give them the same feedback that led him to the lofty heights of the AFL.
“When I was at Carlton, Denis Pagan was the senior coach at the time, but the coach at Northern Bullants and the Carlton assistant at the time was Barry Mitchell and he was really big on oneon-one feedback and I would sit down with him every Monday and do a review oneon-one and I found that really valuable,” Smith said.
“It’s something I’ve wanted to give our players at Portarlington, because I remember how big an impact it had on me as a youngster and I definitely benefited more so from that than the collective team feedback.”
The lack of recovery needed on his own body has already released extra time for Smith to study his side and the opposition while also honing his sidelines eyes, still with the help of Adrian Carr, initially appointed to fill Smith’s head coach role on game day.
While his post-retirement tenure brought early success against Geelong Amateur, he is now wrestling to get the side back to that level after two “frustrating” beltings in the subsequent weeks.
“We had a good win against Geelong Amateur a few weeks ago, but it was probably the worst thing that could happen for us because the boys have got a bit comfortable and a bit happy with their year,” Smith said.
“We’ve got a point to prove and I’ve put it on the group this week and I’ve let them know, in no uncertain terms, a couple of home truths and we’ll see how they respond.
“I hope they’ll respond and put in a respectable four quarters but, unfortunately, with this group we just don’t know.
“Their best is good enough to beat ‘Ammo’ and their worst is a 25-goal belting, so we just need to find that right balance and hopefully we can bring it on Saturday against Ocean Grove.” TEAM