Let’s be in this together – comment by CEO Craig Robertson

The streets of Richmond in the inner suburbs of Melbourne will be eerily quiet this week considering the significance of the event in Brisbane on Saturday evening.

The rhythm of a year is punctuated by the big events – ANZAC Day signals the heaters be turned on (in Canberra at least) and the last day in September heralds the ultimate in AFL – the Grand Final at the G.  From then on, even in weather prone Melbourne, the true Spring allows everyone to venture outdoors.

AFL had its beginnings as an urban league – suburb pit against suburb on a Saturday afternoon during winter. The game may have evolved to a national stage but the tribes remain. In 2020 it’s the Tigers from Richmond versus the Cats from Geelong.

For Tigers and Cats fans and AFL fans from Victoria the curtailment on outside gatherings to control the virus will be keenly felt this week in particular. There’s nothing like the drive by of Punt Road to get a glimpse of players training, or walking through the city with many wearing their team’s beanie or scarf as a last display of tribal loyalism for the year.

As we look on 2020 as one like no other and contemplate a new way of life, abiding by public health imperatives and wonder how our economy can rebound, the transformation at Punt Road from 2016 is a useful reflection.

Prior to 2016, Richmond, like most other clubs played ‘change the coach’ when things did not go well. After some promising finals in years prior to 2016 that season turned sour with a finish at unlucky thirteenth. The coach had used lofty exhortation to incite the players to action that quickly turned to anger when the plays disintegrated alongside the players’ confidence. In the old way of thinking, supporters were baying for the coach to go, even some ex-players hatched a take-over of the board which ultimately failed.

For this column there are too many elements to the turnaround but at the core were calm leadership and humility.

The club leadership at Punt Road kept their faith in Hardwick (the coach). This gave him enough space to explore his own leadership at Harvard during the summer break. He knew the angry coach was losing his players – the distance even extended to his wife (‘You’ve changed, you’re not the guy that I married.’).

The exponential change came pre-season for 2017 when he and the captain shared their vulnerabilities and from there it flowed to all the players. ‘The players responded to the honesty of their leaders by opening up about their own experiences. It had a transformative effect on the group.’ The playing system then flourished as players played for each other.

Some three years on, a legacy is looming – potentially three premierships in four years.

Why do I tell this story? Two reasons.

It seems to me we in VET are ach trying desperately for the magic solution for its resurrection. Joyce, at the core of his recommendations says lining up incentives for Industry will do the trick. The Productivity Commission has faith in the invisible hand of the market and the Prime Minister sees solutions in consistent funding across the nation (plus a forward-looking curriculum). The rapid review of ASQA sees a successful future with more trust in providers, and bureaucrats rely on pushing ever more curated information to prospective students to entice the right enrolment.

Each has a contribution to success, but what is the magic ingredient? Vulnerability shared made the playing group stronger. To know that someone has your back frees you to have someone else’s back.

The shortfall of dog-eat-dog neo-liberalism has been exposed during the pandemic, here and around the world.

Public administration needs new tools. The Productivity Commission in its investigation of human services concluded ‘For some services, and in some settings, direct government provision of services will be the best way to improve the wellbeing of individuals and families.[1]’ Some call the new approach stewardship, where Government’s steer and stakeholders contribute according to their strengths and create an adaptable system.

Secondly. Success is a shared endeavour. Hardwick couldn’t do it on his own. He never could. He empowered his players. It’s no coincidence that the new football manager for the 2017 season was Neil Balme who is often cited for refining this philosophy in his coaching in the 90s. He has said:

‘the guy .. going for the ball is in charge of your destiny [as a coach], so you’ve got to empower him somehow, because he’s got all the responsibility. You need him to want to do it for the right reasons, you need him to want to do it for you.’

In an unsettling year, a tiring year, there’s benefit in contemplating the Richmond journey even though it might stick in your craw. Whether it is how we approach the reform journey for VET in Australia or our very own leadership – let’s be in this together – even from the safety of our homes.

(I thank George Megalogenis and his book The Football Solution for the Richmond story.)