Caretaker Melbourne coach Neil Craig is open to making a return to full time coaching under rigid conditions. Picture: Michael Klein Source: Herald Sun
MELBOURNE caretaker coach Neil Craig says there would have to be "fairly rigid conditions" in place for him to be a senior coach again.
"I was pretty clear in my mind when I left Adelaide that was it for me as a senior coach," Craig said today.
"There would have to be some fairly rigid conditions for me to be a senior coach again.
"I’m not saying that’s impossible, I’m just saying that’s the way I operate.
"I don’t necessarily want to put those in the public arena at the moment."
While Craig did not want to divulge what his conditions were, he again stressed it was up to the Demons to decide what type of coach they wanted before he put up his hand for the job.
"It’s absolutely important, first and foremost, that the Melbourne Football Club have got to decide what their next coach needs to look like and the skill set that he needs," Craig said.
"Because that might be poles apart from what I’ve got, the skills I’ve got or how I see the game."
Craig steered the Demons to their second win of the season when they defeated the Western Bulldogs by three points last weekend.
The former Adelaide coach said the pressure that had been lifted from the club following the departure of Mark Neeld had helped with the players’ freedom on the field.
"I think what happens, and I have been through it myself at Adelaide, when the senior coach is continually criticised and is in the press and is under some pressure, everyone in that football club experiences that," Craig said.
"It can weigh people down.
"What happens is when the senior coach goes ... it’s not so much that the problem is gone, it’s the fact that sort of attention leaves the football club. That itself is a relief for people.
"I have great empathy for Mark and if there has been any so called freedom that you have noticed, and a change in statistics, in my opinion it would only be from the coaching that Mark started here and continued very strongly until he left.
"It might be the fact that that whole pressure on the football club has gone."
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