Denis Pagan

Denis Pagan (born 24 September 1947) is a former Australian rules football coach and player in the VFL/AFL. He is current coach of Northern Knights in TAC Cup.

Playing career

Pagan played 120 games for the North Melbourne Football Club between 1967 and 1974, kicking 5 goals, mainly due to his permanent spot as a hard-nosed defender in the back pocket. He represented Victoria in interstate matches in 1971.

After the Grand Final loss to Richmond in 1974, Pagan was pushed out by Barassi. Although Pagan's dwindling form and the club's reassessment of its squad in the aftermath of 1974 loss, Pagan then moved back to his original roots (excepting Carlton, where Barassi expelled him in 1966) to South Melbourne for two seasons, 1975–1976, playing 23 games and kicking 0 goals. However, these events did not deter Pagan from his dedication to the North Melbourne football club, despite Barassi's authoritative coaching style.

Coaching career

North Melbourne Football Club

Pagan first came to North Melbourne in 1993 without any Australian Football League coaching experience, and at 45 years of age, made his AFL coaching debut at a late age. Pagan had earlier taken North Melbourne Under 19s to 5 Premierships during the late 1980s and early 1990s, before he took the Essendon Football Club reserves to a premiership in 1992. Given Pagan's amazing level of success at the lower levels, it was only a matter of time before Pagan was offered a senior appointment.

He had an immediate impact at the Kangaroos, taking the side to premierships in 1996 and 1999.

He was known for pioneering a successful tactic which was termed "Pagan's Paddock", based around his key forwards Wayne Carey and John Longmire. The coaching strategy involved moving all forwards out of the 50-metre arc and midfielders bombing the ball into empty space. The key forwards would run with the flight of the ball to take a mark or running goal.

By the end of his term at North Melbourne, he had established an impeccable reputation as a senior AFL coach and the longest serving coach in the club's history. His worst season at North Melbourne was 2001, when the club missed the finals for the only time during his 10-year term at the club.

Pagan quit the North Melbourne Football Club at the end of the 2002 season, despite the team far-exceeding all expectations in finishing 7th ), which was never expected after Wayne Carey left the club at the beginning of the year after his much-publicised affair. At the end of 2002 he was poached by then Carlton President John Elliott to take up a new job at the Carlton Football Club.

Carlton Football Club

At the end of 2002, Pagan was appointed coach of the Carlton Football Club, replacing Wayne Brittain, under whom Carlton had won the wooden spoon in 2002; Brittain had a year remaining on his contract, and was paid out by the club. Pagan's attempt to rebuild the side was not helped by the fact the club had been hit with salary cap breaches which prevented the club from rebuilding its playing list in the short term. In 2003, Carlton endured another unsuccessful season, finishing fifteenth. Employing a recycled player policy in an attempt to rebuild the team for the 2004 season, Pagan led Carlton to eleventh on the ladder, which was Carlton's highest placing under Pagan, and carried this into a pre-season premiership in the 2005 Wizard Cup. However, this proved to be a false dawn, and Pagan led Carlton to consecutive wooden spoons in 2005 and 2006.

He had often been criticised for the lack of performance at Carlton during a time of financial crisis, and his lucrative 3 year incentive based contract, although the aftermath of Carlton's salary cap scandal in 2002 was a factor in the club not performing well under Pagan. He had also come under fire for what some believe to be a one-dimensional forward-line structure, revolving too predictably around star forward Brendan Fevola and neglecting other forwards to the team's detriment. After much controversy and speculation over him leading the side to the 2006 wooden spoon, there were talks that he may be sacked; however, it was decided to extend his contract until the end of the 2008 season.

Carlton did not improve much in 2007, finishing fifteenth. Between Rounds 12 and 16, Carlton suffered five consecutive heavy defeats, the last of which was a 117-point defeat at the hands of the Brisbane Lions at the Gabba, in which Lions' full-forward Jonathan Brown kicked a club record 10 goals. It would prove to be the nail in the coffin for Pagan and his job, and he was sacked on 23 July 2007.^[1] He was not bitter at the club's decision, and wanted to go on record that he would never have quit as the coach of the Carlton Football Club. Pagan was replaced by assistant coach Brett Ratten as caretaker coach for the reminder of the 2007 season, who was eventually appointed full-time coach of Carlton. Pagan had a year to go on his contract which was paid out in full by the club. Pagan later stated in the Herald Sun newspaper that coaching Carlton was "the worst job he's ever had".

Post coaching career

In 2008, Pagan became a board member for North Melbourne however after the 2008 season he left the position. He currently works as a real estate agent alongside his son Ryan at Stockdale & Leggo Essendon.

Coaching record

• ¹ Carlton were 14th at the time of Pagan's sacking.

References