George Town’s Brendon Bolton may be short in stature, but the Carlton coach is continuing to grow in his new role at the AFL club.
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The Blues have collected their fifth win from the past six games after starting out the AFL season with an inevitable 0-4 win/loss record.
“We don’t want to be defined by wins and losses; we want to be defined by our effort and application, and also to be unified off the field,” Bolton told Footy Classified on Monday night.
“The wins are just little steps on this journey to say that hard work pays off.”
Players Kade Simpson and Bryce Gibbs spoke out at the weekend after the side’s biggest win of the year against Geelong, crediting Bolton’s coaching philosophies for the turnaround in fortunes since taking over the four-win, 2015 wooden spooners.
“I’ve been really pleased with the collective buy-in of our players and particularly we’ve created a learning environment,” Bolton said.
Bolton has in turn praised the work of his “collective team” in the box for the cultural changes at the club.
Assistants John Parker, Neil Craig, Shane Watson, Dale Amos and Northern Blues coach Tim Clark form one of the most eclectic AFL coaching panels.
“Coaching is more about the power of the collective team and we have a great team,” Bolton said, “and they’ve all coached their own teams outright, which is important because you have a bit more of a holistic view when it’s your own team.”
The ex-North Launceston 1998 premiership player, who went on to coach North Hobart, Tassie Devils, Clarence before joining the Box Hill Hawks, finished last season at Hawthorn after five years as assistant coach.
Bolton said the close bond he publicly formed with Alastair Clarkson would last past Carlton’s round-19 clash with Hawthorn on July 30 at Aurora Stadium.
Hawthorn football manager Chris Fagan also coached a 17-year-old Bolton in Tasmania two decades ago.
But the rival clubs had since tried to keep each other’s scouts away during preseason gamesmanship.
“You can’t work in an organisation for seven years and not have close friends,” Bolton said.
“I’m indebted to all those people at Hawthorn.”