The Brendan Hackett interview
April 30, 2010Brendan Hackett is fully committed to rebuilding the Westmeath senior football team,
saying his goal is to leave a lasting legacy in the Lake County.
Despite enduring a baptism of fire since his appointment as Westmeath football manager last autumn, Brendan Hackett has lost none of his initial enthusiasm and is committed to seeing out his three-year term.
The Monaghan native's reign hasn't got off to the best of starts, though his achievement in leading the under 21s to their first Leinster final appearance in 10 years has significantly eased the pressure on him. Disappointed not to have prevented Westmeath from suffering National League relegation for the second year in-a-row, he is nevertheless hopeful for the future and is committed to rebuilding the team, with or without some of the county's biggest names.
"It's going to take all of the three years to get Westmeath football back on an upward curve," Hackett says.
"There is a lot of rebuilding work to be done, and that's what I'm here to do. The 2004 team is coming to its natural end, so it's a case of building and what you do is look at the under 21s, see what's coming and keep a few of the established players together.
"People like Martin Flanagan, Damien Healy, Michael Ennis, Donal O'Donoghue, Fergal Wilson and Gary Connaughton, they're the kind of players who are leaders. We're here for three years, so it's not going to happen in the first six months. It's a difficult time for supporters because they had become accustomed to success in the last 10 years or so. But the rebuilding process was always going to have to be faced up to at some stage and there will be a certain amount of short-term pain before things start to come right again."
Hackett's short reign has been overshadowed to some degree by the defections of star forwards Dessie Dolan and Denis Glennon but, while he would love to be able to call on their services, he insists he is not in the business of "running after" players.
"My focus, and the management's focus is on who we have. In this world, you concentrate on who you have, not on who you haven't got.
"We would love to have the likes of Dessie Dolan, Denis Glennon, John Keane and Derek Heavin on board because of their quality and experience, but they have opted out for various reasons. In fairness, it's very difficult to play at the top level for 10 years or more and I can understand why John Keane and Derek Heavin would want to take a break from it.
"But we can't keep going back for players, we have to look forward and work with the players we have at our disposal. We're thinking long-term here, and not just about this year. People need to be patient while we put the team together."
The former Athletics Ireland chief executive is under no illusions about the task he faces in transforming Westmeath into a team that can compete at the highest level again. However, he is encouraged by the talent at under 21 level and suggests that his role extends to Director of Football rather than just senior team manager.
"Rebuilding a team is not as easy as it sounds, we had over 60 players in for trials at the start and tried out a lot of new players in the National League. Because the senior team was so successful and settled, a lot of fellas who are now in their mid-twenties didn't get a chance and it was hard for them to step up from club to inter-county level when they finally got their chance this year.
"I took the under 21s because I felt it was important to work with the next generation of footballers. They reached a Leinster final, beating three strong football counties in Kildare, Meath and Laois along the way, and were unlucky not to beat Dublin. There are some fine footballers in Westmeath at that level and I'll be bringing nine or 10 of them into the senior panel ahead of the championship.
"And rather than leaving it until next January, we'll be meeting up at least once a month to go through what happened this year and to absorb the lessons of the Dublin defeat. Eleven of the team that started the Leinster final are eligible for the grade again next year, but they need to bulk up and embrace physical strengthening like Dublin, Cork and the northern counties in the meantime."
He continues: "I cannot stress enough the importance of having strong underage structures and there is a role for a county manager in that. If you look back to Westmeath's 2004 Leinster championship success, the foundations for that were built in the late 1990s when the minors and under 21s were winning All-Irelands. Unfortunately, Westmeath may have been guilty of taking their eye off the ball at underage level in the past decade, but they are taking steps to putting that right now and the under 21 gives us hope for the future."
A straight-talking individual who is clearly relishing the challenge of reinvigorating Westmeath football, Hackett has assembled a high-profile and capable backroom team which includes selectors Michael 'Spike' Fagan, Paddy Collins, Mattie Fox, renowned stats man Gerry McDermott as well as 1992 Olympic boxing champion Michael Carruth, who is the team's masseur.
A former Monaghan Harps footballer who represented his county at minor and under 21 level, Hackett has lived in Newcastle, Co. Dublin for many years where he runs a health and fitness business. After studying physical education in Thomond College, Limerick, he became one of the youngest ever inter-county managers when he was appointed to the Longford post as a 26-year-old in 1987. He led them to league promotion and to a Leinster semi-final appearance in 1988 where they suffered a heavy defeat to Dublin after leading at half-time.
Brendan left Longford in 1990 to take charge of Offaly for two years. Around the same time, he qualified as a sports psychologist and travelled to Australia with the Ireland Compromise Rules team (where he became acquainted with Michael 'Spike' Fagan). He then got involved in athletics through legendary middle distance runner Eamonn Coghlan, who was attempting to become the first 40-year-old to run a sub four-minute mile. He worked with Irish competitors, including boxers, ahead of the Atlanta Olympics in 1996 and became a consultant/advisor to a number of national teams over the next 15 years, including all the Olympic Games since Atlanta.
Westmeath is the 17th county Hackett has worked work since the turn of the millennium. Among the counties he has acted as an advisor to are: Roscommon (2001 Connacht champions), Sligo (2002), Fermanagh (who reached the All-Ireland quarter-final in 2003), Limerick (Munster finalists in 2004), Galway (Connacht champions 2005) and Monaghan (2006 All-Ireland quarter-finalists). He also worked with Wexford during Paul Bealin's tenure.
Outside of Gaelic football, Hackett has worked with no fewer than eight European champions and Olympic medallists. His CV certainly makes for impressive reading and he eager to share his vast knowledge and experience with Westmeath, and leave a lasting legacy in the process.
"Like any job you take on in life, you want to leave it in a better state than when you got it. And that's what I'm committed to doing.
"Obviously, it was disappointing not to stay in Division 2 because that was something we had targeted at the start of the year. We should have beaten Meath and Kildare, and if we had done so, we more than likely would have stayed up.
"All our focus is now on the Leinster championship game against either Wicklow or Carlow. Regardless of who comes through, it will be a difficult game as neither team will be lacking in motivation. Wicklow will be keen to make amends for losing to Westmeath last year and Carlow manager Luke Dempsey won't want to lose to his former county.
"It's a crucial game for us and one that we really need to win from a team development point of view. I'll be very disappointed if we don't reach the Leinster semi-final at the very least," he concludes. Tweet
