Mick McGuane's first meeting with Keilor gave a revealing insight into the mind of the master coach.
It was October 2007, and the Blues had only weeks earlier unexpectedly lost coach Adam Edwards, along with their reserves mentor, chairman of selectors, head trainer and about 12 senior players.
Having worked through a long list of prospective coaches – including several former AFL players – and without a candidate viewed as suitable, Keilor was in a race against time and desperate to find its next coach with the start of pre-season only weeks away.
McGuane had been planning to take a season off from coaching after a stint with Balwyn – a fact discovered by the Blues' then-football operations manager Paul Barbuto when he accidentally switched on RSN while searching for a rival radio station and heard the former Collingwood and Carlton player drop the nugget.
A meeting between McGuane, Barbuto and former Blues vice-president Denis Brown was soon organised at a hotel in Carlton, held little more than three hours after the club first contacted one of the elite coaches in the local football ranks.
"By the time we got there, he already had our playing list, our age demographic, knew how each of our players played the game and knew everything about our playing roster, the club," Barbuto recalled.
"I was impressed; the vice-president was blown away. He was that engaging, we were there for about two and a half hours with him.
"That (next) year, despite a mass walkout, despite all the upheaval, despite a couple of other setbacks very early on, we won the reserves flag and a seniors flag."
Indeed, Keilor launched the McGuane era by snapping Greenvale's 39-game winning run in a boilover in the 2008 Essendon District Football League Premier Division decider.
So began a fruitful partnership that has delivered four premierships. It is a union with no end date in sight, with the flag favourite completing an undefeated campaign under its celebrated mentor in 2023 and boasting a 15-1 record this season.
McGuane will take centre stage on Saturday when he makes EDFL history, becoming the first coach to reach 300 games at senior level at one club as the Blues face the Jets at Joe Brown Oval.
It is a milestone made all the more remarkable when you consider the Magpies best-and-fairest winner has coached junior teams at Keilor for several years.
Barbuto – the father of dual Blues premiership captain Kane – declared McGuane was the most influential figure in the club's history.
He pointed to McGuane's eye for development, people skills, generosity with his time and ability to contribute to the club beyond his coaching duties.
While McGuane landed at Keilor amid turmoil, it is now the undisputed leading club in the hotly contested top flight as they chase back-to-back Premier Division flags for the first time with McGuane at the helm.
The foundation of Keilor’s success is its junior program, underlined by the fact that the likes of prime movers Nick O’Kearney, Corey Ellis, and Josh Honey have returned to the club after stints in the AFL system.
Combine that trio with skipper Kane Barbuto and a long list of outstanding and emerging local players, it is little wonder the Blues are an almost unstoppable force.
McGuane has prioritised development throughout his tenure, spending countless hours watching the club’s next generation of players and resisting the urge for a quick fix.
“When you become a senior coach, you ultimately become a club coach… and if you’re good enough to get a senior job, you’re good enough to share your knowledge and share the attributes you may have for the greater good of the footy club,” McGuane said.
“That means embracing juniors; embracing boys, girls, men, women and trying to help the respective programs. I think ultimately the club benefits from that, rather than being emotionally attached to a senior group of 30 and that’s it.
“It serves you well to be a holistic coach rather than just a team coach.
“You enjoy every minute of it because footy tests you. It has its trials and tribulations over a long period of time and I’ve enjoyed the connection with the junior coaching ranks to hopefully impart some knowledge onto the next generation – future AFL or VFL or Coates Talent League player. If they don’t go to that length, then they stay a Keilor player, a one-club player and maybe make an honour board for 300 games at a footy club.
“You’ve got to separate that, a different type of coaching skillset, to coaching men. So to be able to combine the two and then get success at both of those age spectrums, that’s probably been the most pleasing part – coaching premierships at juniors and coaching premierships at seniors.”
McGuane steered Keilor’s under-16 team to a flag last year, his talented son Thomas featuring in the triumph.
He also gave the AFL prospect, who is also plying his trade at the Western Jets, a senior debut this year, with the teenager wasting no time making his mark.
Thomas was a one-year-old when the Blues claimed the 2008 flag and the “family environment” has been key to McGuane rejecting the yearly flood of offers to call the shots elsewhere.
“I’ve been spoken to every year, to be honest,” he said.
“But I just love the connection piece that we’ve had at the footy club.
“By the time (Thomas) was in Auskick, I was certainly entrenched in the environment and knew how good the system is and the people in it.
“When you know you’ve got a good environment for your children to walk into and be a part of an inclusive program, (it’s difficult to leave).”
Paul Barbuto was effusive in his praise for McGuane, who coached flags at Gisborne and Burnie in Tasmania before arriving at Keilor.
"Mick has taken our club from good and made it great," he said.
"If you're trying to recruit a player or convince a player to come back from the AFL to their junior club, when you meet with that player they want to know who the coach is. Well, you just bring Mick along and everything takes care of itself.
"What he's done for the league is just sensational because he's just lifted the coaching standard across the board. You see the quality of the coaches that have been appointed. A big part I think is that Mick has driven that."
While McGuane is a commanding presence and respected figure who demands the highest of standards, he is acutely aware of the importance of promoting the quality of the EDFL and has always made himself available to journalists.
He is a fierce but fair competitor, shown in 2018 when he went to the Aberfeldie rooms after his side’s 61-point grand final loss to congratulate the premiers on a job well done.
McGuane is also happy to lend a helping hand to other local football coaches.
“I know a lot of people have been glowing in praise in response to that because I think we as competitors become quite territorial at times. I just think you have to be bigger than that and better than that,” he said.
“It can be a lonely place, coaching, when things aren’t going well.
“To offer up that support or some words of wisdom based on experience, I’m forever happy to do that. It doesn’t mean they want it or look for it.
“When things are going poorly for an individual, I certainly know it’s not an easy caper to master because it’s a win-loss business and there’s some harsh criticism from people who might not front-up and do it face to face but are happy to throw hand grenades from behind people. That doesn’t sit comfortably with me.”
Photo via Herald Sun
McGuane stopped short of declaring Keilor’s current team the best he had coached.
He pointed to the Blues’ 2008 premiership team. McGuane said that side had “iconic figures” like seven-time best-and-fairest winner Lee Fraser, Ricky Marcy, Michael James and ex-AFL man Damian Houlihan combined with “soul players” Andrew and John Lambropoulos and Tim Clinnick.
“Would that team go well against this team? I think it would,” he said.
“But I’m reluctant to separate teams that have won premierships. They all deserve the accolades they get.”
As for the future, McGuane is contracted to Keilor until the end of next year.
He said he had not considered his future beyond 2025.
“I haven’t, to be honest. Not saying I won’t (go on), but in saying that I’ve got the competitive juices still flowing in my body. It’s a bit like a Bunsen burner with the flames flickering away. Until that gets totally burnt out, I’d clearly answer that question differently,” McGuane said.
“But while it’s flickering away at the moment, I’m still internally competitive to drive the group to be the best version of themselves and us as a team, which then translates to winning games of footy, I’m certainly up for the fight.”
Barbuto said Keilor was "a good fit for Mick and his family".
"And it's a bloody excellent fit for the Keilor footy club," he added.
