There’s lots of discussion, debate, argument, disparaging comments, frustration… how about putting our creative minds together and work on solutions to the malaise. We know the EFC read this site…
Topic of discussion right now is culture and what better way to capture the essence of the club than driving through an esplanade of grand trees and statues of Essendon’s greatest, with a bio on each legend. The drive/walk upon entering the grounds to the Hangar is long enough to make this work. Would add to the mystic and awe of this once proud club.
The meeting rooms all have Weg premiership posters in them.
The 16 premiership cups are all in a cabinet in the lobby. It’s the first thing every player sees when they walk in the door in the morning.
I don’t think our problem is not connecting with our past, I think our problem is getting too caught up in our past. This idea that we are big and successful and it will just happen for us again.
We have won ONE premiership in the last 26 years. We are nothing. Our successes 100 years ago mean nothing today. Only by recognising this will we ever get better.
I’ve said it before on these boards - if I was running the club the first thing I would do is take those 16 cups out of the lobby and put them in the basement. Leave an empty cabinet there as a reminder to every player, coach and administrators that walk past in the morning - that the only premiership that means something is the next one.
There’s that but my idea of an esplanade is more about the place lacking “soul” and doing something with the outside that draws people to the ground. Like the old Windy Hill stands you see as you drive up Brewster St towards Napier St… glorious, historical
Personally think the concept of culture is a load of rubbish. When the team is winning, clubs are open they bring in the club people and enjoy their experience. When the future is bleak on field, people want out, the club closes it’s ranks to consolidate and protect themselves. The way to fix the culture is to win. How do you win? Execute a system well. How do you develop a system? Enforce minimum team standards. How do you enforce team standards? By being ruthless at the selection table and drafting players whose natural game exudes those standards.
We fix it by drafting blokes that think putting their head over the ball, getting CTE and running til exhaustion is an occupational necessity.
Agree about the culture but I don’t think we can downplay the importance of the place being inviting. Too many people over the last year have said the place lacks soul. That’s a problem when you’re trying to engage supporters and prospective recruits
I would love to see us get this Dr. She oversaw the areas that we are seemingly useless at correcting ourselves, while she was at Richmond. I don’t want to be implying we need to import more Richmond into what we do, instead I’m implying that I would happily ship off Cara, Truck and Richardson and reappoint all their positions with real processes if we had Dr Amanda Green as the head of people, culture.
Agree with everything you’ve said, but would add accountability is incredibly important. Culture is shaped as much by what you allow to happen as what you stop from continuing to happen.