VOSS NOW READY TO TACKLE TOP JOB: HINKLEY
CARLTON coach Michael Voss needed to learn how to coach again after being dumped by Brisbane Lions and arriving at Port Adelaide.
Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley said Voss was a phenomenal asset at the Power and, now that he was coaching again, reckoned that if Voss won a flag at the Blues, it would surpass his achievements as a player.
Voss was a three-time premiership captain, a Brownlow medallist, a twotime league MVP and was regarded as one of the greatest ever midfield generals.
“We both love the underdog and we both love that he’s getting off the canvas,” Hinkley said. “It would be huge (if he won a flag).”
Voss was sacked as coach by the club he loved in August 2013 and joined Port for the 2015 season.
Hinkley said Voss had to learn many aspects of coaching when he arrived at Port.
“He knew how to play, and at Port he learnt plenty about coaching,” Hinkley said. “As a coach you want to go out and fix it yourself. As a player, Michael could go out and fix almost any problem himself.
“Here, he had to learn how to coach the game, not just do the game, and he had to learn how to teach people with lesser talent how to do the game, and that means spending hours on that player. He was sensational from the start. He was a beast when it comes to working.”
Asked to describe the difference in
Voss from 2015 to his departure at the end of last season, Hinkley said: “It’s so clear to me. The aura and presence has never changed, the understanding and knowledge has got much greater, and he’s an educator. He also has a great handle on the buzz word called connection.”
His former coach Leigh Matthews said Voss now had a “good background” to go coaching.
“When he first started, he went straight from playing and he had never worked behind the scenes at a club. He got the job because of the enormous regard everyone held him in,” Matthews said.
“Now, he’s got a fantastic background. Sam Mitchell has had a very small coaching background and there will be exceptions to the rule, but 10 years in the system behind the scenes should be the prerequisite to go coaching.’’
Voss praised Hinkley for helping him climb off the canvas and, after seven years as an assistant coach, hitching his career to the Blues.
“One of the big things I learnt with Ken … he helped me go to work on myself as coach, whether that was teaching people how to play the game, teaching people how to lead, or whether it was creating an environment which brought out the best in people,” Voss said.
“I really loved my time with Ken. He taught me an enormous amount about the game and what I loved was, he gave me the room to be the coach you want to be and he always backed you in.”