Something seriously wrong with the club (Part 1, May 2019)

Where we are at now isn’t an outcome of the saga. The saga is another outcome of the real issues at Essendon

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It’s missing an extremely column for all answers.

Mick Warner calls for an external review of the club.

Lloyd says that the club has been run by part time leaders.
Lindsay Tanner was a part-time President.
John Worsfold was a part-time coach
Dyson Heppell is constantly injured.

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Only what everyone here has been calling for.

Dods is a part time list manager. Can do you a mean subdivision though

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Poorly run teams likely to finish in the bottom third, stayed poorly run and finished bottom third as a result of COVID. Shock. Horror.

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I didn’t like the way he assumed what the club is saying about Saad is right. No blame here, all his fault :point_right:

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You should respond by saying that they couldn’t possibly improve your experience!

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Agreed.

IMO the situation with Saad, there is likely a middle ground between what Saad’s people are saying & the narrative from the club.

I’m guessing, but from all the information that I’ve heard from both sides.
Saad was getting annoyed with senior players who were abusing team mates, yet weren’t doing the ‘team thing’ themselves.
Saad got fed up with having to lock down on opposition players, when senior players were ‘zoning off’ without manning their direct opponent… so requested to play an attacking half back role.

The coaches got to a point of complete break down of communication between players in the backline. Where they dropped Hooker, & moved Hurley to the forward line. Sent Smith to the backline. And rushed Heppell back to sort out the leadership.

I don’t often agree with Rob from the Sash tbh… he spent most of the year using injuries as an excuse. The other guys on that podcast tend to be abit more direct, which I like.

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Maybe the answer is simpler than we think . When we were 4-1 guys were living in Melbourne in their own homes . Any cracks in the playing group at that stage could be papered over to a point. They only had to deal with each other at training , game day .
However after the move to qld the players have had to live on top of each other any guys that don’t get along suddenly can’t get away from each other.
This causes rumbling through the whole group and creates factions with some players stuck in the middle. This affects game day performance and after watching the last games after Richmond you can see they didn’t play for one another

Usually players leave for 4 reasons .
1 . Hate the coach can’t handle direct criticism and believe they are never wrong
2. Hate other players in the group and outcast
3. Money
4. Homesick want to go back and play where they came from .

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I would love to be hearing that Heppell has called all the players together to sort out the issues. Not a peep.

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How? Via zoom?

I said that to one of my friends today. Surely someone at EFC is calling the players and trying to get an idea of what’s happening. How they’re travelling etc

If that’s the only way, then yes.

How?

Half of them would have stayed in qld to go on holidays, and half would have come back to Melb, gone home, and now not be able to meet in groups larger than 5 people from 2 different households…

edit: also, they’ve been living in each others’ pockets for months now, I suspect the LAST thing they need is more time in each others’ faces!

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Look, in all seriousness, there’s lots of noise but no one really knows how much is just that. The players have been living on top of each other for months.

Let them be

Let the club get it’s ■■■■ together

Everyone comes back to some real and clear direction

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Lucky for some! They’ll probably come back when restrictions ease here too. Nice year for them! I’m a bitter Melbournian :joy:

I have been working remotely Managing a large team since March. I’m sure there is a way!

The first word is the problem.

In one aspect, it’s really unfortunate timing that Saad’s contract was up and had to make the call after going through a really stressful and tense situation in the hub.

I seem to remember one of the assistant coaches talking about the playing group struggling mentally in the hub - a few weeks before the end of the season.