Jack tipped to step into the top job at Bell Park
HavH ing organised the Collingwood bench in Friday night’s shock preliminary final victory over Richmond, Maxwell again picked up the headset in a familiar role on St Joseph’s bench on Saturday.
It was a rare sighting of Maxwell in Joeys colours this season, with the 2010 premiership captain tied to Collingwood and Melbourne Storm, but he played his part, just as he has for many years having previously been the club’s director of coaching.
“I’ve hardly been down this year because I’ve been too busy, but I said to Jammo, ‘We’ve got both our prelims on Friday night but I’m here if you need me’ and he said, ‘Can you sit on the bench and chat to the boys as they come off’?” Maxwell explained.
“So I did that. It would be easy for a coach to say, ‘Hang on mate, you haven’t been here all season, who are you to tell us what to do?’ But he’s always welcoming and keen to hear from everyone and that’s a great skill of a coach to not
think you you’ve got all the answers.” Brett Jackman — St Joseph’s h’ d defensive f i coach, a bestand-fairest winner and 2015 premiership player — paid tribute to Jamieson.
“He’s been so good for the club,” Jackman said.
“I was playing back in 2013 and you could see the direction he was heading as soon as he got there. He pushed us to execute what we’ve done today (Saturday). He’s a brilliant coach and I’ve learnt so much from him. It’s a credit to Heath, these results, he’s put in a lot of work and good luck to him in the future.”
One thing the Joeys’ brains trust all agree on: Jamieson is near irreplaceable.
“It’s going to be f---ing hard, actually, to replace a bloke like that,” Nicholls said.
“But that’s the process we’re going through,” Maxwell interjected.
“We won’t have the same group of players go out and play next year, just like we won’t have the same coach.
“He’s instilled a lot of values in our players and that will continue, but the club moves forward.” ST JOSEPH’S assistant coach Shane Jack has all but confirmed he will be senior coach of Bell Park next season.
Jack — who joined St Joseph’s in 2015 after leading Ocean Grove for three seasons, including to the 2014 grand final — said he would enjoy the highs of St Joseph’s nine-point premiership triumph before making any formal announcement.
It is believed the move will be made official in the coming days.
Jack confirmed he had put his hand up for the Bell Park job following co-coach Luke Rayner’s departure.
“Yeah, (I’m) in for the job and it will all happen next week and we’ll let everyone know,” he said.
“We’ll just enjoy tonight and the next couple of days and go from there.”
It is unclear what role Bell Park co-coach Tim Sheringham will have alongside Jack — whether continuing as co-coach or taking on a role as a senior playing assistant.
Jack said he would sit down to talk with Sheringham regarding his role in the next few days.
He said St Joseph’s “knew my intentions” to get back into senior coaching, however, he was not part of the club’s final shortlist to replace coaching great Heath Jamieson.
“I probably wanted to get back into it late last year, but stuck with this group for another year,” he said.
“I’m keen to get back into it — the kids are a bit older now and I feel like I can go back into senior coaching.”
Meanwhile, St Joseph’s football director Peter Haintz says the club was “deep into finding our new coach” to replace Jamieson.
Haintz said the club would have an announcement within the next fortnight.