Time runs out for coach with a golden touch

Greig Johnston
Jul 03, 2015, updated Jul 03, 2015

Mark Ricciuto was convinced he had found the Crows' next premiership coach. Photo: Getty

Phil Walsh, who had to wait until his mid-fifties for the chance to coach an AFL club, sensed his time was running out and was determined to make the most of what was left.

“I tell my kids to chase their dreams,” Walsh said when he landed the Adelaide Crows job in October last year. “I probably don’t want to look back at 70 years old and think what might have been.”

The observation resonates cruelly today, following Walsh’s death overnight and the charging of his son with his murder.

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Walsh’s sense that time was running out was fuelled by a couple of recent events: a near-fatal accident while holidaying overseas in 2012 and the death of his close friend and former Melbourne coach Dean Bailey in 2014.

Both were catalysts behind his decision to take the Adelaide job after years of assisting others at AFL clubs.

Mark Ricciuto was convinced he had found the Crows’ next premiership coach. Photo: Getty

“I don’t drink alcohol anymore, try not to drive a car, try and spend as much time with the people who are important,” Walsh said recently. “I try not to judge people as much as I did.”

His epiphany came after he was hit by a bus while crossing a road in Peru three years ago. Fighting for his life in hospital, Walsh vowed to make the most of his opportunities.

“It (the experience in Peru) has been a big moment for me,” Walsh said. “[Over] my life journey I’ve had a few moments, particularly over these last 12 months.”

That was a reference to the passing of his close friend Bailey who lost a battle with cancer last year.

“I just got a text message from Caron Bailey and it made me quite emotional,” Walsh revealed in a post-appointment interview last year. “She said Dean would have had a little bit of a giggle about this and it really did resonate with me.”

As a coach, Walsh brought success to most things he touched.

He was an assistant coach at Port Adelaide when they won their inaugural AFL premiership in 2004.

At the West Coast Eagles, his strategic innovations helped them rebound from their first wooden spoon in 2010 to a preliminary final in 2011.

He repeated that feat in 2014 with Port Adelaide, helping Ken Hinkley take the Power to the top four.

It’s no coincidence that his departure from those two clubs saw their form drop off.

This year he had the Crows playing some breathtaking football, and at the time of his death they were in seventh place and a strong chance of playing finals for the first time since 2012.

Walsh during his playing days. Photo: Instagram

Crows legend and Board member Mark Ricciuto helped drive moves to recruit Walsh to the club – he was convinced he could lead the club to their next flag.

“I thought he was going to be a super coach,” Ricciuto said after learning of Walsh’s death. “I said it as recently as last week, I think we’ve got a premiership coach here.

“It’s just unbelievable, everyone is in shock and our feelings go out for his wife.”

Walsh spent his entire working life in Australian Rules football, but there was more to him that. Just last week he was comparing football to art, and in particular Vincent van Gogh.

“There is a man with great frustration,” Walsh told reporters.

“I looked at that painting Sunflowers. And for a bogan from Hamilton like myself, I could actually see beauty in that frustration.

“So although our fans are frustrated, we’re frustrated, we like to think there’s some masterpieces still to be painted this year.”