From the James Hird - 2017 Onwards thread in the Hangar. A brilliant post by BrickBomber that sums up our recent and appalling history, and possibly points the way forward.
Because the AFL has done so much towards out recent success for the past 10 years whilst he hasn’t been coach??
All I know is the when Hird was last coaching we sat in the top 4 for long periods… I could actually sit down to watch an interstate game without feeling sick to my stomach and despite the biggest media shitstorm this country has seen the team sat in the TOP 2 before the AFL tried their ‘back room’ deals.
On field there is ZERO doubt that Hird achieved the most in the last 20 years. So that is deciding factor 1,2,3.
Then I look at EVERYONE else that was pinged in the saga… Goodwin goes off with AFL blessing and becomes Premiership coach (and literally no one mentions he was at EFC as the ‘drugs went in’)… Robson lands on his feet, Rodski goes to the most successful football program in the country… Bomber got to coach another year and only really got booted from the AFL because he actually was dealing drugs… our last president LITERALLY was the man IN CHARGE of risk management during the saga and the AFL said nothing… and the players… you know the ones found ‘guilty’ served a sentence and then got to come back and play… and one of them is again LITERALLY our captain…
I’ve never heard a player blame Hird for any of it. I’ve still never heard a player that actually believes they did anything wrong. I am still yet to hear any evidence we did actually do anything wrong other than put our faith in a very dodgy guy without enough oversight… a guy that was also doing the dodgy with several other clubs (one of whom just won a premiership and is on track to go back to back this year!!!)…
So I can understand why people don’t want to be reminded of the saga… but FMD if Hird hasn’t paid his dues. The hottest coaching prospect in the land… starts his career on fire and then gets thrown to the wolves… serves 10 years of penance and still not allowed to get a fair go? I’ve seen people serve less time for murder ffs.
Hird has been involved in the GWS program… do you hear any of their players having issues? Has there been any backlash? Do you see them avoiding Hird in the huddle and on the bench?? I’ve seen several articles of GWS players speaking with GREAT enthusiasm for what Hird brings. That gives me plenty of confidence that Hird would have the respect of the group if he walked in.
We didn’t lose our soul because of our supplements program… we lost our soul because we got bullied, had weak management and threw good people under the bus. And we have been looking for our soul for 10 years… now we have a chance to get it back.
I’m not saying Hird should be our only option… and maybe a proper process would find he is not the best option… but he should be allowed to put his hand in the ring and deserves all the support we can give him.
That is my take.
But wait, there is more…from the Ben Rutten - sacked thread, also in The Hangar.
Rumours of players going to Ruttens house don’t surprise me… but they do confirm what I suspected and posted about this morning.
Rutten had made the classic blunder of trying to align himself WITH the players (lower level employees) rather than helping them see that he was their biggest SUPPORTER but ultimately HE was there as a representative of management to drive results.
A coach should be loved by his players… but also feared… and respected… a good boss is the one that makes a really tough call that you really want to hate them for… but you can’t because you know that it was the right call. So even if you are angry… you have complete faith in them to be doing the right thing.
If our players truly loved this coach… we wouldn’t have seen the absolute garbage they have produced for 90% of this season. I disagree with our new president… it is not just about wins and losses… it is also about what those wins and losses look like. I can handle losing… we are a young team on a rebuild but we weren’t losing because of that… we were losing because we weren’t putting the required effort in and our tactics were wrong. big difference.
Rutten was absolutely not up to the job and if the players truly cared… the result would be different… potentially they are going around to try and calm their guilt at stealing a wage this year.
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