Coach vows to not outstay his welcome
ANDREW McDonald has privately indicated to players he will not fall into the same trap as Justin Langer by trying to fight on as Australian coach beyond his current deal.
Leading stars Josh Hazlewood and Travis Head have lauded McDonald’s outstanding man management skills and slammed assumptions painting him as a soft touch just because he is different from the old school Langer as false.
However, regardless of their contrasting approaches to the job, Usman Khawaja has revealed a typically straightshooting conversation he had with McDonald before he took
over the reins from Langer, in which he warned of the perils of coaching all three formats at the international level for an extended period.
It was advice former Australian coach Darren Lehmann had also imparted on Langer last summer, having learnt the hard way, after health issues and the culmination of the Sandpapergate scandal, that he had stayed on too long in the high-pressure job.
In his column in the West Australian newspaper on Saturday, Langer himself accepted his time had come, as much as the circumstances and handling have hurt him.
McDonald signed a fouryear contract to lead Australia, and Khawaja believes Cricket Australia should make that just about the limit for any appointed coach.
“This job is tough and I always think, in my personal opinion, Australian coaches shouldn’t have more than a four-to-five year window where they can coach,” said Khawaja.
“Because the job will get you down.
“And things change so quickly in international sport. I really do think there’s a timeline for coaching.
“And I’ve said this. I had this conversation with Andrew McDonald even before he became the coach, and he actually agreed with me.
“Coaches doing all three formats, I think do have a timeline.
“US presidency (has a term), my personal opinion is there needs to be a similar thing for an Australian coach, because it’s a very tough gig to do it for a long time.”