i’m just glad there’s somebody sticking up for us in the media.
It’s a little tiresome being pariahs.
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To those dismissing his concerns re: coteries and powerbrokers… time to wake up.
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“I can feel the buzz which has surrounded it for much of that time fading into a bland nothingness.”
This. So this.
One of the other clubs I follow is Real Madrid. Indulge me for a moment while I share some crucial lessons.
I have followed Essendon for 26 seasons. I came to follow Real Madrid through my wife and her Spanish family, starting around '05. My immediate first impression was that the club, its supporters, and specifically its management were TOO DEMANDING. Almost schizophrenically so. Any loss was considered the end of days. Not winning a trophy in a season meant coach sacked for sure. Players were let go at the slightest hint of under-performance.
I kept thinking that through the best part of the next decade. You know why? Because the club I love the most, Essendon, was so stable compared to the supposed chaos of Real Madrid. Sure we were mediocre but look at how many players on our list were “one club” players? Look at the seamless transition from one management team to the next? And, even with coaches, there was Sheedy, Knights, and then Hird. Not exactly a massive turnover.
Now, in the bitter twisted hindsight I see the difference.
Real Madrid used that ultra demanding mentality (on and off the field) to build one of the pre-eminent sporting brands in the world. Multiple Champions Leagues, multiple La Liga titles (despite Barca being domestically almost unbeatable). And yes, multiple coaches, some surviving just weeks.
On field success drove off field profits.
By contrast, I don’t see an iota of a demanding environment at Essendon. Players are comfy. Facilities are nice and cosy. I can’t remember the last time a coach gave or got a public spray.
I will be the first to raise my hand and say I never wanted any players traded in their prime. It is too emotional to bid adieu. But I have done a 180. On field results MUST come first.
My closest mate is a Tigers fan. I saw how it chewed him up inside to go almost 4 decades between cheers. How, when we lived together at the height of the early '00s, he would look at me with envy and tell me how lucky I was.
I am closer to being 50 than 40. I could never have imagined the slow spiral into irrelevance the last 20 years have been.
Someone needs to wake this club up. Shake the foundations.
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Absolutely outstanding piece written by Rohan. Encapsulates just about everything.
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We are a fractured club,hence poor culture,direction and performance.
That’s what was left after I let Rohans words simmer overnight.
We feel like a corporation more than a club.
And every year the power brokers give their pitch,and the investment runs at a loss yet again.
Wheres the passion? Where’s the emotion?
Even though they can come off a bit like $%$heads,look at Hardwick crack back in defence of his players.Look at how Eddie has fired up in defence.
Are they always right? Probably not.
But fark me if I was a player I’d be stoked.
Sheedy was like that.Passionate!!!
Bloody Woosha in his rubbish media presser,whilst the coach is shielded. What a poor look that is.
Get Mark Williams back at the club,he’d shake things up!!
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Are Coterie Groups the new Deep State?
I think it’s all BS.
If you manage to draft a decent group things will come on.
The AFL is manufactured entertainment, of which Essendon is but one flavour.
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Okay. That’s your point of view. You’re entitled to it.
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No. But if you want to reframe someone’s post to make it sound extreme and nonsensical, you go your hardest. The rest of us will have an adult conversation.
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do you have any idea, or is it something you could ask him personally - if he was at all interested in a seat on the board
What is the difference between 2 teams of equal ability ?
1: a System
or
2: Player passion
Are we deliberately learning our players into not playing with passion, cause a system is more important?
I would have thought that Passion or emotion, are a requirement of adrenaline, a athletic performance enhancer
I reckon the cultural stuff gets overplayed, it exists no doubt but still its overplayed.
Mistakes and stuff ups impact footy clubs for ten years+, thats the problem. Fans want everything to be fixed and high standards and yada yada were premiers.
The reality is both the kinghts era and the saga era still impact us in big ways.
Just the saga we lost 3 picks and we lost 4 players in Ryder, Melksham, Hibberd and Calrilse. That potentially 7 best 22 players right there and we really only have Langford and Redman to balance that out. You simply cant lose 7 best 22 players for practically nothing and expect to compete with other clubs.
In an alternate reality both Gumby and Joe kick more than 500 goals in their careers and are champions of the club, unfortunately we got the bad reality where neither happend. But you cant just turn neagle and Smack into champions because yay awesome culture and development.
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Thanks @CJohns for posting & thanks to Rohan for a great letter. Looking back on decisions we have made in the past I can’t help but wonder how it would have gone if we’d selected Dimma as coach over Knights. He’s grown enormously in the role at Richmond & encapsulates the passion & pride that we need to see.
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It sure ■■■■■■■ does. Especially by dinosaurs stuck in the past and think the only way forward is to hark back to an era that’s unrecognisable to that which we exist in now.
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When there is selfishness involved, all about me, me, me…then the culture is super important
We go anywhere until that is knocked out of the “culture”
The Hangar, the despite it’s spongy floor, is symbol of where the club is.
It sits out in an industrial area near the airport, a windy, grey & soulless part of Melbourne. It has the best of everything & will be better again once the new construction is finished but it’s despite the club’s best efforts, it’s just not a place where supporters can feel welcome. It doesn’t feel like a club, it feels like a football facility.
I understand that there where many limitations at Windy Hill but Punt Rd has plenty of limitations too & Richmond seem to be doing ok. And I wonder why St Kilda has moved back to Moorabbin?
Over the last few years I have come to enjoy the VFL at Windy Hill as much if not more the AFL, sure Windy Hill could best be described at ‘rustic’ but it is, or was, our club.
If & when VFL comes back, get out there BBer’s, it’s great
Finally, don’t get me started on leaving the MCG for Marvel, you reckon the saga put us back 10 years…
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Can he name another name?
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On the champions bit, it is stark and I totally agree we have been light on for 20 years.
Its only Jobe.
But write a list of the most talented players we have had over the past twenty years
- Rioli
- Rama
- Winders
- Hurley
- Gumby
- Heppel
- Joe
- Fantasia
I mean come on. Can the footy gods give us a break just once! Its not a defence of the club or Dodoro and I’m sure some will say perhaps its injury management or recruiting (which may be right). But damn, thats a talented group of player who all got the wrong end of the stick, potential champions all of them.
But got nothing to do with our very stinky selection, recruitment and development of the past couple of years. Which does have big problems.
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Not sure if serious?
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I get why people get frustrated with the constant culture talk. But the reality is that its important. Getting players to buy into a system and play for each other can elevate a group. The margins in professional sport between teams has gotten smaller over time, which allows a motivated team of lesser lights to upstage an unmotivated team with arguably better players. The best example is the Bulldogs of 2016. They took a young group and managed to install belief and desperation through a cultural shift at the club. And the result was them winning a premiership that arguably they had no right to win
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that’s also the best example of officiating effecting an outcome you’ve ever seen.
#freekickbulldogs
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