WITH the best part of 40 years in the VFL/AFL caper behind him, there probably isn’t much that surprises Brisbane Lions mentor Leigh Matthews.
But he admitted on Friday afternoon that the current state of the pointy end of the ladder, along with a super-charged coaching merry-go-round, were aspects of the game he hadn’t previously seen.
“It’s a unique situation in the AFL at the moment – I can’t remember the last time it was like this,” Matthews told reporters at the Gabba.
“Last time there was a team four games in front of the rest of the competition after 18 rounds was the 1950s – so Geelong’s dominance is very unusual.
“And the other unusual thing is that there were four clubs looking for coaches before August begun.
“It’s a bit bizarre but there is no formula to follow.”
While Essendon, Melbourne, Fremantle and Carlton may all be in coach-recruiting mode, Matthews said none of them had approached him.
He also again made it clear that, although he sees no reason to hurry into negotiations, he’s happy where he is.
The four-time premiership coach is contracted to the Lions until the end of next season.
“At the end of this campaign the club and myself will talk about the future – but there’s no urgency,” Matthews said.
“I’m not a mover – and coaching is a two-way street.
“I’ll coach as long as I want to and as long as I think I’m the right man for the job.
“But conversely, the club has to believe the same. When either of those two things finish, I’ll finish.”
Matthews said his enthusiasm for staying in the job stems from the behind-the-scenes unity of the Lions playing group, but had been further fuelled by the five-game winning streak between rounds 14 and 18, which rocketed his team back into finals contention.
“We’ve been encouraged by what we’ve been able to produce out on the field,” he said.
“You do a million things and it’s very hard to itemise what works and not. And ultimately you only get judged by what the team does out there on field.
“The team has had a united, disciplined look about it behind the scenes all year.
“And out on the field we’ve played enough good footy to think there is still upside in the group.”
