ASSISTANT STEPS UP
ANDY Lovell has been an assistant coach with the Suns since the club’s inaugural season in the AFL in 2011.
Now the 2015 Indigenous All Stars coach is ready to step up a level and yesterday he declared he would jump at the chance to lead an AFL club.
“Do I want to coach in the AFL? Absolutely, there’s no doubt about it,” Lovell said amid speculation over the future of a number of coaches, including Gold Coast incumbent Rodney Eade.
“It’s a goal eventually but I have to be patient because there are only 18 jobs and they’re all filled at the moment.
“If I ever got the opportunity I’d jump as it but until then I’ll just keep chipping away at what I’m doing.
“But I’ll be 47 soon so time is getting nigh.”
Lovell was on a short list of candidates to replace inaugural Suns coach Guy McKenna at the end of the 2014 season but the job was eventually given to Eade.
Now Eade, the entire coaching panel and the football department are facing a major review, which will come at the end of the season.
Lovell stressed he would not like his chance to come at Eade’s expense and that he does not hold any concerns about what may happen some season’s end.
“I have no feel for what the Suns are going to do,” he said.
“You just have to do your job and whatever happens, it happens.”
Lovell said he has not noticed if Eade and fellow coaching panel members are feeling pressure because of the talk surrounding their futures.
“I haven’t had a direct conversation with him about it but he is a really experienced coach and has been around for a long, long time,” Lovell said.
“But if he’s feeling any pressure it’s not visible to us. He’s doing the job the same way he has done since he joined.
“I think that experience counts for a lot in footy.
“He has seen a lot and done a lot and as a result I don’t think it has impacted on him.
“You feel the pressure every week in the AFL irrespective of if there’s a review going on.
“It all goes with the territory of being a coach, it’s part and parcel of the game.”
Meanwhile the Suns are still waiting on the extent of injuries sustained by co-captain Steven May (hamstring), defender Jack Leslie (lower leg) and Jarrod Lyons (ankle).
They face the Bulldogs in Cairns on Saturday afternoon.