The point of a rebuild… is to change the culture of the club. 99% of people don’t change. So you need to get them out of the environment so you can build a new culture.
Not only should we clean out the board, CEO and Gutted the Football department… but also moved on Senior players. We are gutless at making tough decisions. Nothing will change until the board, CEO and senior players are out of the club.
The other issue is, compared to other clubs who have similar aged list… we are far more inexperienced with games played. We’ve spent way too much time getting fringe players from other clubs, when we should have been investing in young players and the draft.
That’s the type of arrogance which is like super glue and its hard to shift it even with a good solvent. Essendon behave like the Nuovo Riche but want to be seen as old money.
I think there’s something to be said for dropping down and hitting the draft hard - for a year or two.
These days with so many bastardisations to the draft (NGA, compo picks, GC freebies), you really need to be in the bottom few sides to guarantee a good look at even the top half dozen kids. The guys who you can build a line, or a team, around.
But it needs to be somewhat managed - it can’t be a Melbourne/C***ton style sit there for 3-4-5 years.
That’s when you lose heaps of players, momentum and pride. Which are hard to get back.
If I ran the club I’d be making it pretty clear to Rutten that wins & losses wouldn’t be his KPI for 2021.
More about finding & building a 22 that can develop into being a very good side in 2023-24.
Don’t take the numbers literally. The length of the cycle of boom to bust is slightly different for each club, but the pattern is the same ie being uncompetitive/poor for extended period (4-6 years) then rise to be ok for a few years, but not win the flag and fall away again.
This is MOST clubs, whilst only a minority in the last 20 years have won GF(s).
Remember the days when we used to call Richmond “Ninthmond”? I would love to be Ninthmond for a few years if it leads to the success they have experienced.
The biggest question for me regarding development is - was the development team responsible or worsfold playing favourites? Our VFL side has been strong for a few years which shows the kids are coming along. Ridley proved that after being given a consistent run at it. The lack of a hard ■■■ coach driving standards and not making the older guys fear for their spots , will be a major reason why we suck.
They dropped Ridley early in the season… IMO was stupid.
Then they played him out of form, by trying to turn him into a midfider. He could hardly get a kick in the VFL all year. He lost all confidence by playing midfield.
They moved him back to HBF as finals approached, and he still wasn’t back to his normal self. But then had an absolute belter of a preseason.
Not all players are going to bounce back that quickly. Some players don’t bounce back at all. It’s a combination of development programs, and also putting faith into young players by letting them settle into the AFL side for a month or 2.
One big knock on Worsfold at West Coast was blooding young players… unless they are a freak like Judd or McGrath. He’ll play them, but he also gives first opportunity to experienced players… regardless of a kids form in the VFL/WAFL
Agreed . He was hopeless for it . Therein lies the problem . You don’t know how a kid will step up . Some like Jake long will play better in the 1’s than twos . But if you aren’t putting games into them and backing them in no chance.
Two big drafts in a row where 3-4 really good players are added per draft to the list can revitalise a club. The best we typically manage is two really good players. That we’ve got three top ten picks this year suggests we’re a good chance of achieving that standard this year. Finding 3-4 players next year may be harder considering we aren’t likely to have the picks we do this year, but I expect we’ll have a top five pick or better. I suspect we are in for a couple of painful years, but unless our management completely balls it up (which, let’s be honest, is a distinct possibility), the tide should turn.