SOME are seen but not heard. Others often talk in the public arena. Some sit above the coach in the management structure and others below. But each plays a pivotal role in his club's success.
They are unique, yet incredibly similar, each with a slightly varied role and responsibilities, yet all with the same inherent trust and respect.
In times of success, they won't get the credit they deserve — at least not outside their own club. Yet in tough times, they'll be right in the middle of it.
Who are they? They stand beside the men in the AFL coaching hot seat. The general manager of football operations, or just general manager, football. The chief of football operations or simply director of football.
Or at the Western Bulldogs, where coach Rodney Eade has the title "head of football", it's the high-performance manager.
Call him what you like but most clubs have a "football boss". Such as John Reid (Adelaide), Steven Icke (Carlton), Geoff Walsh (Collingwood), Robert Shaw (Fremantle), Neil Balme (Geelong), Donald McDonald (Kangaroos), Peter Rohde (Port Adelaide), Greg Miller (Richmond), Ken Sheldon (St Kilda), Andrew Ireland (Sydney), Matthew Drain (Bulldogs) and Steve Woodhouse (West Coast).
At the Brisbane Lions, the role of Leigh Matthews' second-in-charge is split between long-time football manager Graeme Allan, who is responsible for recruiting and list management, and Marcus Ashcroft, the football operations manager.
Until recently, Chris Fagan did this job at Melbourne; he's soon to do likewise at Hawthorn. Essendon, too, is a work in progress. Not so Melbourne — the new man in Fagan's old office is Chris Connolly.
It's a bizarre situation. Connolly applies for the top job and misses out to Dean Bailey. Then Connolly accepts a seemingly secondary position and becomes Bailey's boss. Or maybe not. It hasn't been clearly stated who reports to whom at the Demons. Only that Connolly is head of the football department and Bailey is coach. And it doesn't really matter.
It doesn't matter that, technically speaking, Sydney coach Paul Roos reports to Ireland, general manager (football). Or that at the Kangaroos, coach Dean Laidley reports to McDonald, general manager (football operations).
Because football isn't about seniority or management structures. It's about success. If the team wins, everybody wins. And generally speaking, the relationship between the coach and his right-hand man, irrespective of his title, is pivotal.
It's simply got to work, and you can imagine it would have been a big issue for Bailey and Connolly, who were rivals for the same job one week, to agree to work together in complementary jobs from the following week.
It was no surprise that Connolly, a six-year coach at Fremantle, went to such extremes to declare his total disinterest in the Demons' senior coaching job. He had to. He could not possibly have been seen as a coach-in-waiting.
But it did show real confidence from Bailey, untried as a senior coach, to accept the man he beat for the job as his offsider.
It's nothing new to have an ex-coach in this role. Already there's Shaw, Balme, Rohde and Sheldon. And McDonald was a caretaker senior coach at Hawthorn in 2004.
You would have to assume Neil Balme, new to Geelong this year, has had a huge influence on the minor premier, taking charge of off-field matters and allowing Mark Thompson to concentrate on coaching.
Exactly how it all works is different at each club. And so it should be. Different people have different personalities and skills and respond differently to pressure and stimulus.
Some coaches want to handle everything. Others are content to be football-specific and allow their offsider to attend to peripheral issues. There's no right or wrong way. Whatever works.
I know Andrew Ireland, former Brisbane chief executive, well. And the former Collingwood half-back flanker is the perfect fit for this all-encompassing football administration role. In researching this column, I spoke with him and came away with one clear message — the role is all about providing an environment in which the coach has the best possible opportunity to get the best out of his players.
It's about respect and trust, belief and balance, communication and direction. Being a measured sounding board, a cool head in a crisis, a shoulder to rely on when times are a bit tough. An ally 24-7. It's a partnership and it's about providing every support possible.
When it comes down to absolute football matters such as player selections and trades, the coach has the final say. As he must — it's got to be his team because it's his head on the chopping block. But clearly, Roos has the utmost confidence in Ireland. And vice versa.
You'll rarely read a story in the newspaper about a football manager being under pressure for his job. That's the coach's lot.
But as football becomes more and more professional, more and more businesslike, the role of the man in the 2IC's chair is becoming more and more important. Regardless of how much you see them.
