Brendan McCartney and Matthew Scarlett reunite, reignite coaching passion at Geelong school

For mums and dads at a school in Geelong, it’s not fanciful.

Western Heights College in the Geelong suburb of Hamlyn Heights is not a typical school. Around half of the school is pretty conventional. But 400 of the school’s 800 students are enrolled in specialised sports programs.

It is select-entry, but not as you know it. Rather than academic ability, students apply on the basis of sporting aptitude, and spend large parts of their time training in their respective sport of choice.

Western Heights boasts an accomplished list of teachers. Former Croatian national goalkeeper Joey Didulica is involved in the soccer program, while ex-Australian netballer Susan Meaney and Kris Blicavs, brother of Geelong AFL player Mark and Opals basketballer Sara, also work at the school.

And then there’s the football program of 170 students, where the mentors include former Western Bulldogs coach Brendan McCartney, and ex-Cats champion Matthew Scarlett.

It was the vision of principal Fiona Taylor, a long-time sports enthusiast who believed an educational change was needed in the region. So she approached McCartney, who she had never met, out of the blue.

“I arrived at the school in 2017, and I had a conversation with Brendan in late 2017 about creating something a little bit unique and different in Geelong, around a specialist sports program,” Taylor says.

At the time, McCartney, a qualified teacher, was still involved full-time in the AFL system, working alongside Simon Goodwin at Melbourne.

But Taylor was persistent and, when McCartney left the Demons at the end of 2019, an opportunity arose.

For McCartney, it was a return to his roots. He had gone to high school and teachers’ college in the precinct and was keen to work locally again.

“So it’s sort of a full cycle for me,” McCartney says.

“The school was really ailing, and (Fiona’s) idea was to give kids a reason to come to school and hopefully stay at school.

“It was probably at a time in my life when it appealed giving back to the community. And I was jaded with AFL footy too.”

Susie Robinson, a long-time ABC radio sports producer, oversees the program.

“It’s built into their curriculum, so they don’t miss out on English and maths and science and humanities, and they still get to do electives,” Robinson says.

“Their day could be double English, double football, double science.

“The academic is still the most important thing ... and the sport thing is just the bonus. We don’t really mind how far they want to take their footy. As long as they come here, they work really hard and are good kids.”

McCartney and Scarlett were both renowned as no-nonsense types during their respective careers, and a peak inside one of their sessions shows as such.

They are firm but encouraging, demanding respect but reciprocating with dedication and expertise.

“We’re hard on them, if they don’t compete and tackle and work. It’s never personal, it’s just coaching. It’s not a mini-AFL program, but it’s very close,” McCartney says.

“We had a little bit of a hiatus for about a week, three weeks ago. We just felt the respect levels were dropping, and their behaviour in class, we thought the kids were taking it for granted a little bit.

“So they did some school cleaning.

“Talent is important, but you won’t make it if you won’t work hard, listen and want to be coached. We don’t tolerate them talking when we do.

“Sometimes probably me more than others, we cross the line with it by pushing them a bit hard, and they get a bit sad and parents get a bit sad.

“We were really hard on them early, but consistent. If they weren’t on time we ran them. There was a group that ran for 90 minutes when they were late for the second time.”

McCartney is dogmatic about his methods, honed over more than four decades in football.

He is adamant that much of the way football is coached around the country is wrong. In particular he feels there aren’t enough match play situations. It was a view consolidated during an overseas study trip during his successful stint on Geelong’s coaching panel, where he worked with Mark Thompson.

“I went to Ajax academy in the early 2000s when I was at the Cats, and I watched a guy work with this group for three or four hours and he taught one thing. But he just kept changing the drill,” McCartney says.

“We sat down one day and said, ‘We’d love to change how footy’s coached’.

“If the game is decided by the contest, teach it, teach it first.

“We wrestle these kids here. They fight and scrap and tackle. The bigger kids go at it full bore. Our kids play with intensity and ferocity.”

But he rejects the assertion that he is a one-trick pony, worshipping at the altar of contested ball to the exclusion of the rest of the game.

“I got categorised as a contested ball coach. Well that is footy. But I’m also pretty good at teaching offence, and how to defend the ground too.”

Then there is Hall of Famer Scarlett, who gets more touches of the ball in a keepings-off handball drill with a group of students than he did in the 2007 grand final.

Barely 18 months ago Scarlett was still working full-time as an assistant coach at the Cats. He would not discuss his exit from Geelong, but said he had no burning desire to return to the AFL system.

“I was looking for a different thing to do with my life. And like I’ve done many a time when I need a bit of help I’ve gone to Macca. He’s been a great friend and mentor,” Scarlett says.

The six-time All-Australian is helping out at local club Barwon Heads, but most of his professional energy is channelled into these school kids. He agrees that many of the skills from coaching in the AFL are transferable to teenagers.

“I connect really well with the kids.

“We do push them, and they do like to be pushed. It’s amazing the improvement I’ve seen. Some of these kids when I first got here couldn’t run a lap, now they can run five, six, seven laps.”

Robinson notes that the program – which costs less than $1000 annually in 2023 – caters for a range of different backgrounds.

“We do see a lot of kids coming through that have had some trauma in their life. And that varies from DV (domestic violence) to personal circumstances, socio-economic circumstances. A lot of them are carers for their parents or grandparents,” Robinson says.

“And a lot of neurodivergent kids, that’s becoming more widely diagnosed.”

More than eight years after his explosive exit from Whitten Oval, McCartney remains on the periphery of the industry.

In addition to Western Heights and operating his private coaching business, he coaches North Ballarat and was part of the review into Essendon’s football department.

While McCartney did not wish to publicly discuss what he found at the Bombers, he is happy to talk about Collingwood, where he is doing some consulting work after being approached early in the year by Magpies coach Craig McRae on the recommendation of mutual contact Mark Opie, Richmond’s long-time team manager.

“Fly (McRae) was good. He reached out early January and just said he wouldn’t mind me coming down and look at what we do, have a listen. I sat in the box in the Port game,” McCartney says.

“He’s just a polished, rounded person. He’s quality. But he’s strong too.

“For me it’s quite humbling to be asked. And I’m so respectful of the opportunity. It’s just reinforced what great clubs look like. Scott Pendlebury still seeks feedback. It’s just phenomenal.

“It’s good to be back in at that level.”

The AFL itch is not completely scratched. Watch this space, perhaps.

“At times I thought I’d never go back and work at the level, but the Collingwood stuff’s been good. You do miss elite performance. ”