This is a email I sent to Xavier Campbell today.
I have never written a letter to the club, but I’ve basically had enough
Surely as CEO, you have to recognise my anger in our inconsistent performances, it’s really getting embarrassing for the club. I’m sure your aware we haven’t won a final for 14 years, only Gold Coast have not won a final in that time. We supported this club through the saga, we always have, we have 70,000 members and we deserve better. This certainly isn’t aimed at you, but I think as CEO you need to start asking questions of certain players and coaching staff however that may be. Il give you some examples. You are the ceo of one of the biggest clubs in the country, it’s time a few changes happen
David Myers is a very limited player. I know he is rated internally as a excellent leader and great club man, but he has his limitations. Admittedly, he was great against port but that is the exception performance, not the rule. Tell me the last time he repeated that kind of game for a month straight. David’s one sideness, poor hand balling, and kicking blindly out of packs hurts. Surely Kyle Langford should be given a extended run in the seniors in place of David? Both play similar roles. Josh begley has played every game this year, and whilst in every game he has played this season he has had good moments, his numbers have been poor. What he does is good but he goes missing for big periods in games. It’s a shame he’s done his ACL, but my point is, if Kyle produces the level of impact in a game josh does, he is dropped immediately. Example, Langford had a good game against Adelaide round 1, round 2 he had a poor game against freo (he wasn’t alone) and he was dropped and hasn’t got a look in
If Kyle is going to be dropped that easily, then other’s should be too. It’s poor player development to drop a kid who has one good game, one bad game then back to the vfl. If I was Kyle, I’d be asking myself “why the hell do I get dropped at the drop of a hat, yet guys like begs and Myers can play at the same level and still get selected”
I’m not kyle’s biggest fan and he has areas he needs to work on, but give him a block of games without the fear of being dropped. We’ve gifted players games who haven’t deserved it plenty of times, so it can’t be said he needs to earn a game. His VFL numbers and efforts are always good anyway
Why would we keep selecting Mark baguley? Do you see how many goals he constantly gets kicked on him weekly? Is it not worth giving mcneice a crack now that he is fit? Bags constantly gets beaten 1 on 1, last season he had the most goals kicked in him for a small defender in the competition, that is fact. I love his endeavour, hardness and commitment but he’s defensivley poor and a liability. I’m sure you can see baguley isn’t great one on one these days, and it’s exactly why Collingwood isolated whoever was his direct opponent in the goalsquare 3 times for 3 goals in the first quarter. That’s poor coaching
Why do we chip, chip, chip around and then bomb it long to a 2v1? What kind of gamestyle is that? Structures are breaking down. Forwards are not working hard enough to work back and then lead up at the ball carrier. It’s so blatantly obvious. It was disgusting at how easily Collingwood transitioned the footy yesterday, we were witches hats. I feel sorry for saad, he will take the game on, look up, and have literally no one to kick it to because no one has worked back hard enough or leading at him. It’s deadset embarrassing the work rate of our guys sometimes
What do sacked coaches like Harvey and Mark neeld, from clubs that had zero success under them, bring to the fold? Are their not better options out there from clubs in the modern era with success? Open the cheque book for Blake Caracalla, every club he has coached at has been successful. Surely he would know a tad about successful environments? I like worsfold, but he lacks on game day a little with matchups, making moves during the game and our current gameplan. Having better quality coaches around him who have fresh ideas from winning cultures is a no brainer in my opinion
We, the supporters were told the focus of pre season was defence. So for mine, you have a whole pre season to practice changing your game plan a little. 5 round in, 3 losses we have coughed up 100 points, 99 to Adelaide where we were lucky we had a good last quarter, and 85 to port in a game I felt we dominated. Where is the improvement in defence? Their is clearly a communication breakdown between the coaching staff and players. They do not know what to do. 127 marks yesterday and 90 odd came in our defensive 50, and look at the score we kicked. It’s completely unacceptable to watch the players confused and have no idea what they are doing. It’s a footy game plan, not a manual on a nasa spaceship. All it’s taking is for one or two errors out of D50 and the entire playing group goes into its shell and play safe footy where we don’t run, take risks or take the game on. If the players can’t execute whatever gameplan they are given, find ones who can. It’s not a talent issue, have a count of how many number 1 picks, first round picks, all Australians,rising star winners, and that’s without counting in guys like raz and walla. It is not a talent issue at all
Why after 15 years is our midfield still non competitive? Devon Smith has shown in 5 games the kind of two way running and ferocity/hassling kind of approach you need. Zac Merrett, parish and him are your three we need to build around. It’s been a area of weakness for far, far too long. Perhaps have a look at dylan Clarke or Kobe Mutch, they both are in good form and deserve a shot
I’m sick of mediocrity. I’m sick of the club letting me down. I’m sick of spending thousands of dollars to see my side get belted and embarrassed. We haven’t won a final for 14 ■■■■■■■ years and the sad part is it’s not looking like it’s changing anytime soon. Start to question how hungry certain players are, start to question coaching methods, start to question player development, start to question the kind of players we draft, because after 14 years, something has got to give and SOMETHING has to change because the players, coaches, staff and supporters deserve success. It’s about time this club started putting in a consistent effort and hiding behind things like “the group has to gel” or standard lines they wheel out to the media.
I hope you have the time to address my points as I think they are very valid. Thousands of others feel the same
Regards