Right road for Ryan

Tangles: Why did you want to do
this interview Hendo?
Hendo: Just to put the record
straight and let everyone know that
we’re not going to be as bad as what
some people are expecting.
Tangles: It was a super tough pre-
season. When did it start to fall apart?
Hendo: Some players were going to
leave at the end of the (2009) year
regardless of whether we won the flag
and we knew that. It didn’t really hit
home until pre-season training started
and players started coming in and say
ing what they had been offered and that
they were leaving. We thought we would
hang on to some of them.
Tangles: There were two incidents
that were reported publicly last year –
one at the 50th anniversary function and
the other at the Sunday function three
weeks before the end of the season.
How much did they influence players
leaving?
Hendo: The thing at the 50th do had
no effect on the players at all – in fact
most of us didn’t even know anything
happened. I don’t think the (other) blow-
up had anything to do with players leav
ing either. It was very highly overrated.
I couldn’t name one player who has left
the club because of that.
Tangles: Well, why did they all leave
then?
Hendo: It was the money they’ve
been offered, I’ve got no doubt about
that.
Tangles: It was that simple?
Hendo: Some of them have gone to
coaching (roles). Daniel Charles went to
Buln Buln, Corrie Wilson to Nyora and
Jussy Hill is assistant coach at Devon
Meadows. They all took two or three
with them but other clubs and coaches
just targeted our players. Obviously they
heard there was a bit of unrest in the
club and that was their incentive to try to
recruit Doveton players. I’m unhappy
with the way some ex-Doveton people
have pursued our players when they
knew we were in trouble.
Tangles: When some of those play
ers come back to the club will they be
welcome?
Hendo: Everyone’s welcome to
come back. Doveton will accept anyone
who wants to play footy there. They’re
the ones that have to live with the fact
that they’ve gone. I just hope that the
ones who have gone to the Ellinbank
League and do come back after playing a
lesser standard, it doesn’t affect their
footy. I’ve seen it happen and players
lose the pace of the game at the lower
level.
Tangles: Let’s get fair dinkum, you
seriously considered leaving, too, didn’t
you?
Hendo: Yes. I got six or seven offers
to go.
Tangles: How close were you to
going?
Hendo: The only offer I really con
sidered was going to play with (Clint)
“Boofa” Evans and Rhys Nisbet at Lang
Lang because they offered me the assis
tant coaching job and it was probably the
closest club to where I live. It was the
Lang Lang assistant coaching role that
appealed to me as a learning curve
towards being a senior coach. I’m not
ready for senior coaching yet. I believe
you have to do a bit of an apprenticeship
as an assistant (but) I got offered three
or four coaching jobs, too.
Tangles: Did you get offered big
money to leave?
Hendo: Yeah. I got offered over
$1000 a game from three clubs. I had an
interview with Pines. They came out to a
job site I was working on and threw bags
of money at me, but I didn’t really con
sider it.
Tangles: You’ve been known as a bit
of a lad outside football over the years,
did that influence your decision not to
coach?
Hendo: Absolutely. I had to pull my
head in and get a bit of, I suppose, matu
rity and that’s one of the reasons I took
on the assistant coach’s role at Doveton.
Also, when I heard so many players
were leaving I didn’t want to be one they
thought had let them down either. The
family ties are strong at the club.
Tangles: Even though he wasn’t the
official coach, Clint Wilson led the sen
ior side last year, but was involved in a
well-documented late season off-field
incident, also involving you. Was that all
sorted out or is there lingering bad
blood?
Hendo: I honestly believe that
Clint’s been harshly dealt with. A lot of
people have pointed the finger at him for
everyone leaving and that’s just not the
case. As I said, most of the people left
because of the money. People inside the
club know why they left but so many out
side don’t and I want make that point
strongly. I was as much to blame as Clint
with what happened last year, but not too
many people pointed the finger at me. I
probably didn’t go to the extent he did
but he copped all the blame and that
wasn’t right.
Tangles: Many inside the club
thought that Clint should have been
sacked and said so. Do you think the
club response was firm enough after
that incident?
Hendo: He shouldn’t have got the
sack – no way. It was three weeks before
the finals and he had led us to where we
were. There was a lot of talk behind peo
ple’s backs going on (at that time) and
not a lot of honesty and that shouldn’t
have happened. The reason we lost the
grand final was that we were too old to
beat Pakenham, nothing else.
Tangles: Many of those older play
ers have left now.
Hendo: If clubs are happy to pay the
big money for older players I wonder if
they’re doing the right thing by their
clubs. I couldn’t name one club that has
recruited those players that will win a
flag this year, but if I’m wrong I will put
up my hand and say so.
Tangles: At one stage it appeared
that Doveton would not be able to field
two senior sides, let alone an under-18
team but somehow that has been com
pletely turned around. How?
Hendo: Just great people around
the club. Stuey Batten, dad (Steve),
Laddy (coach Mark Ladgrove), Mark
Mott and myself got together and
worked hard at it. We knew what we had
to do and made sure we did it. We had to
give the younger players a bit more of an
incentive to stay and play and Doveton’s
never done that before. Unless you are a
proven player you don’t get paid at
Doveton. But once we secured a few of
them we had others commit and that
was positive. The thirds were gone. We
had 12 players but through the efforts of
mainly dad and Robby Walton, we’ve
now got 30. Robby is the best under-18
coach I have ever seen and he’s exactly
what the club needs.
Tangles: Is there a change of culture
at Doveton this year?
Hendo: Most definitely. We’re not
the club that we used to be. There would
always be a brawl here and there
through the year but that’s just not
going to happen any more. I will put my
hand up as a bit of a wild child in the past
but we don’t want it there any more and
if it does happen, you’re just not wel
come at the club.
Tangles: You know plenty of people
aren’t going to believe that, don’t you?
Hendo: I don’t really care. Every
player is on the same wavelength and
we’ve committed to it. Laddy deserves
credit, too, because he has done it tough
and is a real good operator. I’ve never
seen so many people at the club as last
Saturday and it’s not just blokes stand
ing around getting pissed any more.
Tangles: Doveton people don’t react
well to losing and there was some pretty
harsh stuff published on the club’s inter
net website by a long-time member
recently. Do the older people at the club
have to change heir attitude?
Hendo: Not at all. They are the rea
son that we’ll be good again. The passion
they’ve got for the place will make sure
we’re not down for long and they will do
what has to be done to get us up again.
The culture at Doveton is a winning cul
ture and I feel sorry for the (member)
who wrote that stuff on the website. He
probably shouldn’t have gone to that
extent but he just wanted to let everyone
know that it’s hurting us that so many
players left. He was only saying what we
all thought but he could have worded it
better.
Tangles: So are we describing it as a
rebuilding year?
Hendo: It is. Laddy and I both know
that but in all the time I’ve been at Dove
ton I can’t remember seeing three young
kids as good as Corey Phillips, Travis
Hendy and Vergim Faik come out of the
under-18s and dominate at senior level.
Doveton won’t be strugglers, I’ve got no
doubt about that.