Phil Walsh answered the tough questions and painted a bright future for the Adelaide Football Club in his first press conference as Crows Senior Coach. Watch Part 1 of his maiden address in the player above and read the best excepts below.
Phil Walsh on his first task as Senior Coach…
“My first order of business will be to get inside the Club and listen. From the outside, we all have perceptions of what’s going on. I want to find out what this Club is made of. I want to find out why the Club was inconsistent this year. What is it that stopped them playing the type of footy they could play for long enough. They’ve showed their best footy is good enough. I’m going to spend a bit of time listening and then gather our thoughts. We’ll build the car we think we need to get us where we want to go and then we’ll drive it as fast as we possibly can.”
The road to the top job…
“Anyone who has done what I’ve done probably deserves the chance to be Senior Coach. I’m 54 years old (and) it’s probably not going to come around again. I tell my kids to chase their dreams, so I probably don’t want to look back when I’m 70 years old and think ‘what might’ve been’. So here I am.
“People say I never wanted to be a Senior Coach. The reality is, I’ve only officially been approached twice to be a Senior Coach. This was the first club that’s actually been prepared to get down and find out what Phil Walsh is really all about. I’ve always been of a belief that if a club really wants you, they’ll find you. And that’s basically what has happened in this process.”
Playing finals in 2015…
“We’ve got a talented list and are good enough to make finals, but who knows? I might find some things that are going to take a bit longer to fix. It’s early days for me to predict that. I’ll tell you one thing though, I’ll only select players who are totally committed to the team. I always believe that when you’ve got enough of those players, you’ll get where you want to go.”
His vision for the Club…
“You’ve got to make sure that all the key people – the fans, the players and the rest of the Club – are on a shared vision. We all understand what we are trying to get and we just don’t deviate from that. If you want to get a bit of cement (and) you want to get a bit of steel in your footy club, you’ve got to stick fat and you’ve got to stick to your vision. I’m looking forward to making sure we all share the vision and stick to it.”
Breeding success…
“What we’re chasing is not individual success. We are chasing team success, and we will be totally committed to that. Success doesn’t come look for you. You’ve got to chase it. As a team, the only way to do that is through hard work and elite habits.”
Commitment to the cause…
“I played at three clubs and coached at three clubs. Once I walk in the door of those clubs, I’m 100 per cent committed to that club. The other 17 clubs are the enemy, and that’s how I see it. It’s a ruthless industry. Right now, all I’m thinking about is how best that we can get ahead of the curve of all those other teams. It’s that competitive – this industry.”
