Al McConnel edit
Wed, May 01, 2024 9:32AM • 46:15
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
playing, coach, game, years, afl, club, coaching, footy club, great, fitzroy, players, context, driven, team, experience, people, career, growth, athlete, head
SPEAKERS
Paul Barnett, Alan McConnell
Paul Barnett 00:00
Allen McConnell. Hello. Good morning,
Alan McConnell 00:03
Paul.
Paul Barnett 00:04
The DCU welcome to the Great coach's podcast. Keith, we've been, we've been talking about this for quite a while. So I'm glad that I could actually get a date with you where we can where we can go through your long, long and storied and winding career.
Alan McConnell 00:19
Well, I think you've been talking about for a while, Paul. That's true. I've been listening.
Paul Barnett 00:25
I've managed to pin you down I am, I am good, good. That way, when I when I find a coach or the it's got an interesting story to tell, and you've definitely, you've definitely got an interesting story to tell. So we're going to start from way back in, in the country back in Tarang. And we're gonna go all the way through to to the grand final, and GWS, Johnson and beyond. But could I start with just talking about two of the big names that you've worked with? There's Kevin Sheedy and Mark Thompson. Now, people listening may not know a lot about Australian rules football, but both of those gentlemen, some of the most successful coaches of all time in your work now, as a coach developer, across all sports, you're also getting to see some pretty good ones up close. And, and I'm just wondering, what you've noticed about the great coaches and how they do things, perhaps differently from from the rest.
Alan McConnell 01:20
I think every coach I've worked with, has a strength, or strength. There's no such thing as the perfect coach. we all aspire to be that, but I don't think I've met one yet. You know, the couple of names you mentioned, it's interesting. They actually worked with one other Mark was shades. premiership, Captain, I think from memory. He was Yeah. And yeah, so you know, shields was obviously very innovative, creative. Crazy, you know, thought outside the square, but very loyal. You wanted to be on his team, you didn't want to be on somebody who you could. I remember watching him play, and you'd want to be on his team, not the other thing. And Bama, unbelievable capacity to teach the game. And I think a really underrated quality in coaching is patience, belief and patience, which means you need to give things time and in high performance sport, people often don't want to give you time. So you know, truth is i i was moved on by the time by my head all the success at Chalong. But it nearly blew up before they had their moment in the sun. So yeah, so I guess like everything patients, you know, there are times I'm thinking Come on, mate, get on with it, get on with it, get on with it, but it proved his patience proved to be one of his great assets in my mind, because he had belief in his prepared to give people time to flourish.
Paul Barnett 03:18
So those are the great ones. But let's go back to the start of the journey. Let's get back to Tarang little country town, actually Clora
Alan McConnell 03:26
before terang caloric before terrain, yes, yes. Minor League, which is where my family all played my father, my grandfather, his father, and my brother all life members of the local footy club.
Paul Barnett 03:41
And you were playing in the scene? Is that about 15 or something like that? Yeah, yeah. So what was the impetus to head down to Melbourne and take your life in a different direction to study
Alan McConnell 03:52
I'd left finished year 12. Wanted to came to came to Melbourne to study physical education. And my brother had actually been invited to come down and train playing a practice match for Fitzroy and I took my bag along and asked for a game and to do and I survived and he got the flack. So that was some interesting. Yeah. So three years
Paul Barnett 04:25
then, in the VFL 30 Odd games that
Alan McConnell 04:30
was at Fitzroy, I actually I want the best and fairest with features and unknowns, got meningitis, and then got the flick and then went to Footscray, which is so I went to played play in the VFA for a couple of years and then back to to Footscray where the under 19 Fitzroy nine inch coach had transferred to Footscray and in fact, he's the one who got me across to Footscray which is where I played the the VFL games. Yeah,
Paul Barnett 04:56
but you went straight from that x perience into coaching. Was there someone or was there something that ignited this passion in you to go off and coach,
Alan McConnell 05:06
I think that unbeknownst coach was certainly a great mentor. He's, you know, I was a pretty young knife country kid when I arrived in Melbourne, and he certainly was very influential in my life, played out played a significant role, you know, in nurturing my growth as a young man. And I'm still keep in close contact with him today. So he's probably the one the way he did it was the way I would like to be perceived, I guess, I guess that was the influence that he gave me and made a lot of lifelong friends. At that time to
Paul Barnett 05:47
what you said, the way he did it was the way you'd like to be perceived. It might be a little early in the interview, but perhaps I'll ask you, how is it that you want to be perceived?
Alan McConnell 05:57
genuine, honest, authentic, real, challenging, supportive? Somebody who wants to make a difference, but who cares?
Paul Barnett 06:19
We're going to talk a little bit about care as we go through the interview, because it comes up a little bit in your story. But I'd like to hold it over for now, if I could, because there's a few steps, I think that we need to go through to sort of frame how care has come to be central to your approach to not only coaching I think, but life as well. Yeah. So 96 comes around, you've been coaching you've been doing well. And then there's this bloke, and he's 36 Now coaching in the top league in Australia. But it's interesting, isn't it? Because you're coaching in the dying days of a club with 113 year history.
Alan McConnell 06:58
Which centenary year of the competition?
Paul Barnett 07:02
Now, look, I don't want to there was a lot of ethical issues. I mean, I, you and I've talked about these issues before, and I don't necessarily want to open up all those old wounds. But I'm interested to know how dealing with the closing down of an institution, the closing down of something that meant so much to people has gone on to shake the person or the leader that you are today.
Alan McConnell 07:25
Yeah, and I think the other bit I'd add to that is, I had a pretty influential role at the end, you know, being the head coach. But without any real authority in the context that I was, the head coach had actually quit. And so I was catapulted in for the second time as the head coach in two years. And so yeah, it was a slippery road in a lot of ways. Very under resourced. And, and some function but lots of dysfunction. And not necessarily a lot of authority, or, or what's the word or resources to be able to make a difference. And I reckon when you stand in front of a playing group or group of athletes or in front of anybody, and look to take a leadership role, you have to believe you can make a difference. And that was a real stretch.[PB1]
Paul Barnett 08:27
How did you cope with that, then?
Alan McConnell 08:34
The reality is we weren't going to play great. 40. That's how that's the truth. The we had when I took over the second time, in that final year, we had eight games left. We'd won one game in 212 months. And everyone thought that the announcement of a merger would unify the group, you know, in the context of you know, being able to present a united front to each individually and collectively get scattered and recruited to Brisbane. And the reality is the opposite happened. It was seven or eight who almost immediately came to agreement with Brisbane that they were going to Brisbane.
Paul Barnett 09:26
And so just for everybody that the context is the team was closing down, but it was merging with a team at the far end of Australia. So it wasn't exactly close by
Alan McConnell 09:35
so we had seven or eight players who who had who knew their destiny. We had another eight or 10, who thought there was some chance of maybe being recruited to to another club. We had a bunch of older blokes who figured their careers were over. And then we had a bunch of kids who had no idea what the system held for them going forward and where that might take them on their life's journey. So, in fact, it actually, it actually really polar polarized the group in in lots sort of splintered the group in a whole lot of different ways. Because those that had contracts sort of wanted to put their cue in the rack didn't want to get hurt. And so, you know, team environments are very much about everybody putting their shoulder to the same wheel and pushing in the same direction. But we had lots of people pushing in different directions at that point within the within the playing group. And the other thing that happened was that supporters, members, board members, all had an agenda that they wanted to serve in terms of the politics that surrounded this demise of 100 something year old club, and, and they wanted the players voice to lend to their agenda. And so, you know, I remember having to tell the, the cheer squad, for example, to pull their head in. And if they produced banners, with derogatory remarks about various entities going forward, that we would run around, and we wouldn't go through them because there was the players in some regards, we're sort of pawns in the whole thing, if you like. And so I'd say in the end, I had a sense that I could because I knew them pretty well, I'd been around for five or six years at this point, that I could look after them in a way that could unite them to a point but also hold them to account for a set of standards so that we didn't look like a complete rebel.
Paul Barnett 11:46
There were ethical challenges at the time, I don't necessarily want to go into them, we've, I know that they are something that has been talked about enough. But those challenges, divided people. And I'm wondering what you've taken away from that, that you now use today in this role, where you're, you're helping coaches all over Australia, and you're helping them deal with stakeholders, head coaches, athletes. What stayed with you,
Alan McConnell 12:17
I think, every experience we have in life is a lesson that we can learn and use somewhere down the track. Some of those lessons are good, some not so good. Um, I guess. I was proud of the outcome that was delivered for all of the people involved. I fought everybody, I felt that everybody had their chance to flourish and shine in their own way off the back of that whole experience. And if Is there something particularly I took out of that? Not really, other than that, I felt I had a skill that to, to be able to find connection for people in in really tough situations.
Paul Barnett 13:11
I think that's, we talked about Carrie earlier, I think I've known you now for I guess getting on for a year. And I I see every time we talk carry so central to your approach as a as a coach and human any human being. Yeah,
Alan McConnell 13:24
it is. But it's it's carrying the context that if it's just scared, wishy washy, you know, I'd like to think there's a fair degree of challenge and prodding that comes with the care that because I think if you know, growth and change doesn't happen if doesn't happen in people, if you just care. It needs to come with some other qualities as well. But being having made a deposit in the care space, it does afford you the chance to challenge in others.
Paul Barnett 14:05
I want to talk about one of those challenging moments because I was there today of the last game, I vividly remember it and somewhere in my boxers downstairs, I'm sure I have the record, which is the small magazine that you're given at the game that day. And there's a great story, you know, you were thrashed that day, I don't know it was 120 points or something like that. Right, sorry.
Alan McConnell 14:29
Yeah. And it was actually our second last game was last game in Melbourne, which was at the MCG of 80,000 people playing Richmond. Yeah, yeah.
Paul Barnett 14:36
And there's a photo at the end. You've got Yeah, you've got your arm around. Someone in. The crowd wanted you to do a lap of honor. But
Alan McConnell 14:44
you the AFL wanted us to do a lap of honor. The crowd probably, I guess had probably been given some indication that might happen. So postgame I'm met Brad Boyd in the middle of Right, actually, we're standing in the center circle and a photographer has actually taken our photo. And I was acutely aware that we're in the middle of the MCG with a lot of eyes watching us, and the conversation I knew was going to be somewhat contentious. We've just been flogged, these are young men who actually have pride who are we've just been humiliated. It's, it's incredibly embarrassing, and they just want to get off the ground. But they're in jumpers that have been running around in a competition for 113 years, 100 year old competition. And we need to honor the jumper. So when the captain and I are debating intimately whether or not we're going around the round the boundary line before we look at the ground, and because I was acutely aware of where we were, and who was watching, I've got my arm around him, and I'm actually whispering in his ear. That photograph appeared in the Annual General, the 100 year annual general report for the AFL. And the caption on the bottom of the photograph refers to the intimate and caring relationship that exists between the captain and his coach. And the reality is we were having a deep bond on battle, and I can't, there was a few expletives in the conversation, driven by the captain, which basically centered around the fact that they were, they were gonna go straight down the race. And I was encouraging them to go via the boundary line, and the Great Southern stand to get there. So yes, it's
Paul Barnett 16:44
smoke and mirrors. The quote that I've got here, I don't know whether it's Brad Boyd, or whether it's you that said it, but the quote is, you said to him, the reality is, it's the jumper that's doing the lap of honor, we just happen to be the poor fools that are inside
Alan McConnell 17:01
them. That's probably my life.
Paul Barnett 17:04
It made me wonder when I when I read it, it made me wonder. So many coaches, Ellen, I've interviewed talk about the power of the jumper, the power of the jersey, the power of the singlet, I would have heard it 150 times. But this is an instance where you've actually lived it and experienced it and seen a crowd of people react to it.
Alan McConnell 17:27
Well, it was far more than just that last game, I mean, that, that we they had games where I took over, it was the postmatch celebration was actually far more like a week. And it was it became more and more like a a state funeral each week and it was quite wearing and but what I think the real lesson for me is just how significant particularly in Victoria, the AFL is in is ingrained in the culture and the community and the community spirit that it drives within within within Victoria particularly but across the country.
Paul Barnett 18:16
And nowadays, when you hear coaches talk about the power of the jersey what's your reaction when you hear
Alan McConnell 18:33
good question. I think it our Oh, it articulate that it's not the jersey jersey, that's the power it's the people in New Jersey and the journey the jersey I guess is in some way a physical representation of the connection that exists and and maybe when that that jumper has a long history maybe it comes with some other responsibilities some of which I think organizations are better at embracing than others but in the end connection is a human quality it's not a it's not a physical it can become almost physical if you like but it's still a human qualities and it requires you humans to drive that emotion so yeah, that I think the jumper is symbolic of of that in some ways.[PB2]
Paul Barnett 19:40
So Fitzroy finish, they go up and they merge and they become the Brisbane Lions. What happens next for you
Alan McConnell 19:50
had a couple of interviews with a couple of AFL clubs and eventually went to Geelong to work as Gary is Senior Assistant Coach.
Paul Barnett 20:00
which would have been fun given the Gary is is, well, one of the greatest players, I guess of all time and a pretty decent coach, he never quite got his premiership, but he was he was very, very good.
Alan McConnell 20:10
And we went from not winning a game or winning one game in 12 months to think we finished either first or second on the ladder playing Final. So it was actually it was actually a rare very, there's lots of difference. In terms of outcomes, that that that occurred for me, yeah.
Paul Barnett 20:34
So the julong experience happens, a get together with Gary is but then in 2004, your career takes a great turn you, you become the coach of the most elite youth in Australia at the Australian Institute of Sport, and the list of players that went through that program. It's so impressive, because all of them are sort of these household names today. There's so many of them. Now, I'm not even going to the wisdom is that many, but you're also, in addition to coaching those kids, you're also the father of three children.
Alan McConnell 21:10
The two at that stage, but three, eventually you're eventually
Paul Barnett 21:12
and I'm wondering what you've learned about harnessing the energy and the power of young people, because it seems to me you've had a fair amount of experience with it.
Alan McConnell 21:25
I think that given opportunity. It's innate within people, particularly young people to flourish. And it's our responsibility to provide that opportunity
Paul Barnett 21:41
to talk to you unpack that opportunity for me, and what is it what is a great opportunity,
Alan McConnell 21:46
a lot of opportunities, I think it's not necessarily great opportunities, just simply providing the vehicle for growth, you know, like, I'm the platform that says sometimes it's physical, its physical in terms of where one lives or the programs you provide access to, or the expertise that you provide, provide access to, sometimes, you know, for kids who've maybe had difficult upbringings. It's just simply providing with a sense of belief, or the opportunity to explore things in a way that where it's okay to make mistakes. So I think it's very, very different from one individual to the other as to what opportunity looks like.
Paul Barnett 22:30
So the key thing with the youth, or in your experience is almost tailoring things to them as individuals.
Alan McConnell 22:38
Yeah, with within the context, because I've actually coached only ever coached in a team environment. And so that yeah, the reality is that we aspire for them to all to be great. And we'd like them all, to achieve some common goals or similar goals. But the journey for us is so different, you know, for a kid who, who's come from an environment where maybe he there's not been a lot of self belief, maybe driven internally, maybe driven by external factors, opportunities, simply challenging those thoughts. Whereas for a kid who comes from the Kimberleys it's probably more to do with giving them the opportunity to relocate from one side of the country to another side of the country so that they're the opportunity for their athletic qualities to flourish in a structured environment that allowed them to survive in a professional team is what opportunity looks like. So yeah, it's it's very different from individual to individual some
Paul Barnett 23:48
of those Haiti's this was Kids, let's call them young people went on to be great leaders, I mean, Joel Selwood springs to mind, is there. Did you notice anything about the leadership qualities that young people may have that need to be nurtured?
Alan McConnell 24:09
Specifically, no. I think that the, the, really, the guys who all went on to coach started to become captains of their AFL teams in that, in that role, I think those five or six of them, they all probably had those qualities to some degree or other long before I met them. So, you know, there's an element of leadership that I think is innate. There's an element of leadership that I think stems from a self belief that allows you to look outside of yourself in a way that does allow you to influence others. So no There's nothing that really jumps out in the banner answer that question specifically.[PB3]
Paul Barnett 25:06
So 2009 comes along, you've been coaching these terrific young athletes, and then you're the first employee of a new franchise. So that's why you're a lifetime member of the club now. And you've watched that club grow from having, you know, a group of young kids playing there, they were 17, I think when they had their first team, now that played off in the grand final in their ascendant again, and I'm wondering, as you reflect on the growth of that club, what you've learned around the building blocks that teams need to put in place in order to thrive?
Alan McConnell 25:46
Yeah, I think the Giants journey has been remarkable in the context that we'd like to think that growth is linear. And in fact, it really is. But if you look at the first 10 years of the giants, from conception to, to playing off in a grand final, the growth was pretty linear in just about any parameter you'd like to measure, you know. Attendance, attendances, membership, sponsorship, games won. on almost any parameter, the growth of the club was very, very linear, which is pretty unique. Now, the truth is, I think there's some great decisions that were made along the way that contributed to that. And there's also a little bit of luck, you know, like, the way we put put a list together, in the first instance, was impact driven by the fact that we were always going to struggle to attract mature, experienced players from other lists on into onto our environment into our environment, because the perception was that you wouldn't want to come and live in Western Sydney, which is crazy, because
Paul Barnett 26:55
it's totally crazy. It's very beautiful.
Alan McConnell 27:00
Yeah, so it, it was a fabulous journey and and on the back of 10 years earlier, being on a similar road, but hitting in the office direction, working with a team and a club that was going into receivership, being on a club that's starting from scratch and looking to build was, in many, many regards, very, very similar. But just being on the same highway heading in a different direction.
Paul Barnett 27:33
But what about the blog? What were the big things that the Giants got? Right? You said they made some good decisions? What were those things?
Alan McConnell 27:42
Well, look, I can really only talk from the performance side of the club. And, you know, professional sporting clubs are big organizations that takes lots and lots of people and decisions and resources to make it work. And there's lots and lots of fabulous people that have made a contribution to our footy club. For me, I think the some of the list management decisions, in in the early years, were pure gold. And we, we, the bulk of our experience was actually guys at the very very end of their careers, all of whom we contracted for one or two years to play. But all of whom had contracts to shift from a playing career into a coaching career on our coaching staff beyond the end of their playing career. Now, they were all superstars of the game, premiership players, captains of their clubs, so really, highly distinguished players. And because they all had coaching contracts as part of their arrangements when they arrived, they were they were deeply ensconced in the long term future of the footy club, not the drive of a player at 27 or 28 years of age, he's actually playing for his next career, or to fulfill the ambition of winning a premiership, albeit they were because of their pride and their, you know, their level of competitiveness. They were, they were always going to perform at their best, albeit maybe their best was behind them. But their long term commitment to drive the footy club and therefore, the players around them, particularly the young players, in our first game, we had 17 players who'd never played a game of AFL football before. And, you know, that's, it's unheard of. I don't reckon that'll ever happen again. And so in that context, having your core group of leaders on the ground, committed to the long term, future of the footy club, I believe set a fabulous founder Question for teaching those young players what it takes to be competitive and a winner in the competition. Are those.
Paul Barnett 30:10
Is that lesson still visible in the club today?
Alan McConnell 30:15
I, yeah, I do, I think they they left an unbelievable legacy for our footy club and Gabby Allen and others who who made those decisions and collected that group of people together. I mean, many of them have actually moved on and still are now working at other footy clubs, but I would be astonished. I'm sure they would have great pride in the contribution I've made to a footy club, and rightfully so.
Paul Barnett 30:42
So you're involved with the Giants 2009. In 2017, the women's side is created. And you'd go over and you become the first person in history to coach both an AFL and an AFL W t, which is, which is a great honor. Our but I don't want to ask you about that. What I asked you about is what that experience, having coached both men and women and youth at the elite level, has sort of taught you about motivating people.
Alan McConnell 31:13
I'm not sure about motivating people, but I think it was a fabulous challenge for me at the end of my career, as a coach to you know, the notion that astonished to find myself, coaching women having lived in a man's world, and then to be a man in a woman's world. It is, is something I'd recommend everybody experiences at some point because it actually it allows you to see, not just, I guess, some of the foibles that our game has lived with for a long time, but also what life's like, you know, if you belong to a minority group, or a group that's marginalized by society in various ways, and certainly, the women's game has had been marginalized for a long, long time. And, and so to be a part of that, and make a small contribution to the growth of the game is a very humbling and some experience. It's something I'm really proud of. What did I learn flexibility, Alert, alert that the game is fundamentally the same no matter where you play it or what level you play it at, play it out, but tailor making the program to fit the needs of the people that you're working with. What works in situation, it doesn't necessarily work in situation being so the ability to be flexible and creative and think differently around that is a great challenge.
Paul Barnett 32:59
We also have talked about that quote, which I first came across from Anson Dorrance. And I think that's where you saw it too, which is, you know, men need to perform to feel like they belong, whereas women need to belong in order to feel like they perform. Do you believe that?
Alan McConnell 33:16
Look, I think I think that's very true. What I would also say is that over my time coaching in the male space, the men have probably become more and more and more like that, as we've broken down the myths of what it is to be a male or man. I think men are allowed to be much more sensitive beings now than they traditionally have been. So I'd say that, in my view, the male space has transitioned more towards the the need for the connection. But I'd also argue that over time, I think as the women become more hardened, if you like, to a professional environment in a football, AFL football sense, that the the opposite will be true for them. So yeah, there's no doubt that's true that the, the need for the women that I coached to feel valued, and, and worthy and, and supported, certainly was central to growth and change.
Paul Barnett 34:33
This is great documentary that our friend Sean Occhio, put together about corresponding the Irish athlete that comes across to Australia and at the age of I think 136 She becomes an AFL W player and you're all through that documentary because you're you're teaching you're teaching someone to learn a new game. And it's a fascinating watch. I'll put the link to the to the doc imagery in the shownotes. But you've got a teaching background at school. But how did that experience sharpen up your teaching skills?
Alan McConnell 35:10
Yeah, yeah. I think central to learning is an open an open mindset. And Cora, probably the most driven athlete, I coached male or female, and she had that in abundance. And so that actually made in lots of ways easy. And what I what I did find is that the more I coached in the early days, the worse I made it, and in the end, I had to throw in ideas and suggestions around her playing with the ball. Rather than actually do this, do that, adjust this hold it this way. I felt that I was better off to say try and make it do this. Try and make the ball do that. That said, she still ran around a corner, she broke all the rules. But she found a way to make it work. And you know, it's the fastest player in AFL W competition to get get the 50 goals. And a age when everybody else has given the game up long ago. God, I can only imagine what she'd have been like if she'd arrived here as a 20 year old, she would have been an absolute, she was for me, she was a superstar anyway, but she would have been should have been the best player in this competition by the length of the straight head, she embraced the game earlier. The other thing is that she had the capacity to she had a lot of teammates and staff who wanted to support and help her. And she in the end, unlike some of the other transitioning athletes from other sports that I've worked with, she had the capacity to shut out a lot of the noise and trust her instincts perhaps better than any of the others, which allowed her to have narrow focus and rather than try and take in too much at once, so interesting athlete.
Paul Barnett 37:09
Now the next question is a bit of a difficult one. So I hope you're okay with it. 2021 one of your players Jacinda Barclay takes her own life. Now, you haven't spoken about it publicly. Something you and I've talked about. I don't want to open old wounds. But I would like to ask you what needs to change so that this doesn't happen again.
Alan McConnell 37:52
The truth is, there's no answer to that question. Because I don't think in dissenters case, if anything changed, it would change the outcome. Unfortunately, mental health is a part of our, our world, the world we live in. And unfortunately, you seem to suffered from from that. That illness were a form of that illness. I think that what I learned during that phase, and I hear a lot of people say are finally we don't and in fact, the truth is, in this case, the people who needed to know did and we weren't able to stop it prevented, change. But what I do know is that for people who are in the depths of despair, there's actually there's actually nowhere for them to go. If you have no money, no resources. And the medical system says you don't need to be in hospital anymore. Where do you go? And, and in the context of, you know, if you laughs in terminal rallies, you piss people off, you know, you're annoyed people. And so you marginalize your support group after a period of time if that's the nature of the illness that you're suffering, and and so our system really isn't set up to support those people. What else did I learn? When you're looking to try and support people in this situation, there is an unbelievably and there is a huge difference. In having somebody renewed to ask if they can help, and you have to ring them to ask for help. And that is and so I'm talking there more around, not the person suffering the illness, but those who are looking to support those who are. And I think that I would encourage anybody if they're aware of others in these situations you need to get over yourself and pick up the phone and check in if people are okay, if there's something that you can do to help. What else did I learn? So no matter what also learnt was that no matter what you do, sometimes it's not enough I learned that I learned through my experience with just center that even though you think you know them, sometimes you don't know, I learned an awful lot about to center after her death that I didn't know about her before. And I wish I'd known those things. Would it have made any difference? No, but we wish and I, you know, I think just into losing a life was a huge waste, because I know that if she'd been a male athlete, she wouldn't have been. For context, this woman was the quarterback in a laundry right league NFL winning season. And as a rookie, she was the lead pitcher in the national baseball team. And she was our Center for in any if she played any of those sports at that level in the men's space, she would have been a rock star, and very, very rich. And she wasn't she was a rock star. Particularly if you're asked to send her she was a rock star. But the the, the support she had around her at the end, and the financial resources she had would have been very different if she'd been a male. And that it sits in my guts a bit.
Paul Barnett 42:56
What was support was available for you after it happened.
Alan McConnell 43:05
I have a good family. It's probably where it end.
Paul Barnett 43:17
Okay, so let's move on from that. From that story. I thank you for sharing it. I can see the painting, you
Alan McConnell 43:26
know, I feel pain. I'm proud of the part I tried to play in just in his life. I'm proud of the relationship I had with it. I'm proud of the fact that she trusted me and she didn't trust too many people. I hold that day.
Paul Barnett 43:45
I think it's no surprise then in 2022. And I say that because I now know you and I spent time researching for these questions. But in 2022, you were awarded the Neil Danaher Lifetime Achievement Award, which I've got written here is awarded to an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to the game of footy over a lifetime. Now, the other people that have won this award, there's names like Neil Craig, David Wade, and Mark Williams, there's a there's a long list of people who are all legends of the game and very well known. So when people reflect on the contribution, you've made all these people you've touched on this journey, and you're touching more of them these days as well with your work in the IRS. But what is it you hope they use? What words do you hope they use to describe that contribution you've made?
Alan McConnell 44:42
I'd like to I'd like to think I helped to make their life better. And for some that was probably more in the in the athletic performance space and for others that might have been in there You know the life away from the game I know I didn't please everybody all the time that comes with the job, Saudis it's odd because I sit back now and I sort of not sure that that's how I feel about my career. You know, could I should I have done more could I have done more? There aren't many trophies in the cabinet that pisses me off. So there's an element of a lack of fulfillment if you like in some regards, and the cups pretty full and others
Paul Barnett 45:56
think that's probably a pretty good place for us to finish out. It's been terrific getting to those last year and getting the chance to interview here in my kitchen today. Thank you for coming in and answering the questions and wish you all the best chasing down that elusive cup.
Alan McConnell 46:12
Cheers mate.