Signature moves by managers - bit on Cooney
I'm just going to post the Conney section, to read the whole article, please head to the Hun website:
Signature moves by managers
Mark Stevens and Jon Ralph | November 28, 2008 12:00am
http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sport/afl/story/0,26576,24718053-19775,00.html

AFL clubs aren't the only ones on the hunt for draft talent. Mark Stevens and Jon Ralph report competition among player managers to land the next big thing is just as fierce. RICK Olarenshaw is best known for wearing flashy suits on the boundary, but he was in shorts and thongs at the scene of his biggest conquest.

The part-time Channel 7 staffer and full-time player manager still can't believe how his luck unfolded on a scorching February night in 2003.

Like every other manager in the country, Olarenshaw had a strawberry-haired kid called Adam Cooney in his sights as a potential client.

Olarenshaw, living in hope more than anything, phoned Cooney's father Paul to organise a meeting.

"He said, 'Sweet mate, come around for a barbie'," Olarenshaw recalled this week.

Olarenshaw arrived on the family doorstep in Adelaide a few days later dressed for a backyard sausage sizzle.

"I turned up in shorts and thongs and Paul said, 'Rick, what are you doing here?'.

"He said, 'I must've had a few beers when you called. I don't remember'."

Much to Olarenshaw's relief, the door remained open.

A welcoming Paul Cooney quickly responded: "Come in, I'll see if I can find Adam".

Soon, all three were sitting around, chatting out the back.

"Myself, Paul and Adam just seemed to hit it off," Olarenshaw said.

Two days later, Olarenshaw and Paul Cooney reconvened to watch the emerging star play in a practice match for West Adelaide.

At halftime, Olarenshaw was stunned when the family told him: "We're going to go with you for sure".

"Paul just said, 'Come around after school on Monday and we'll sort it out'," Olarenshaw said.

Somehow, Olarenshaw contained his excitement, but word of the looming coup could not be kept under wraps. The late swoopers came from everywhere.

"Other agents were pleading for Adam to go with them," Olarenshaw said.

But that was it. Done and dusted. Almost nine months before the national draft.

"Adam's the easiest one I've ever had," Olarenshaw said.

In September this year, Olarenshaw made a late dash to Crown casino. The kid who five years earlier had related to the shorts-and-thongs dress code was wearing a black tie with a Brownlow Medal dangling around his neck.

The going rate for managers is three per cent of a player's contract and 15-20 per cent of endorsements.

Cooney is not the type to actively seek extra endorsement dollars and spots on TV shows, but Olarenshaw has done very nicely.

If only it was always so easy...
More on the Hun website.