would be interesting to see what actual football departments they spent money on to give every player an oppotunity to excel.
as from vague memory they created a development role for hurley, and I think jacobs.
what else have they done, specifically for the players improvement ?
because as others have said in multiple threads, there’s less than a handful of players you can say, that haven’t gone backwards in this area on field.
We have a history of recruiting ‘skilled’ players that show some potential for AFL. What seems to be missing is recruiting some ‘hard’ players, tough boys that will run through brick walls. We are missing players who can consistently cope with the rigors of AFL over extended periods. It would be nice to have someone who has the skillset to identify them.
The review/coup was at the end of 22 after a few years of reduced spending due to Covid. So yeah they are spending more now, every club is, it’s just reinstating spending that was cut in 2020.
It doesn’t matter how much money the club Spends on development programs and resources…… if the players don’t have the talent or aren’t driven to get better.
We’re wasting millions on resources for players who were never up to it in the first place.
“As a club, we owe it to the players to give them the best resourcing and development opportunities”. Dave Barham.
We owe the players nothing if they don’t want to do the work. Absolute waste of money for a group of spuds.
Well, he’s right. He left out the bit about the current group not being up to it, no matter how many resources are thrown at them.
I agree.
I’d still be curious to see what and where the added spending is going, because again so far it seems it’s being spent on a job for hurley, and a psychologist.
it’s like people who hang on to the pre season training camp that 14 odd players attended as a club wide new standard setting and taking on the afl lifestyle.
It’s more a question to show they just pr spinned that facet of changing the club, as much as anything else.
As to supporters, they were the ones who organised the march to the G in 2016 , when the Club management went into hiding.
Roco on Spotify with Podcast Don The Stat Round 21 V Fremantle absolutely nails it re two decades of appalling and near pathetic mediocrity. Concise, fearless and to the point. We have one A grader, 5 or 6 B graders and the rest are plodders. Pitiful recruiting. One A grader who gives 100% week after week. One A grader who was voted off the leadership group, presumably because he demanded effort. Our list is miserable. You cannot polish a t&*d. About time we took emotion out of it and appointed people who looked to results rather than the player’s feelings.
DODORO AND RFK OUT
NOW!!!
It’s on a contract to ensure the fax machine (which is also disconnected) never runs out of paper and some top grade potato growing soil.
It’s such revisionist banter to say the reason Merrett was removed was because of having high standards when in his own words he’s a bit introverted. If you’re not comfortable talking about expectations and you just keep expecting people to follow the example you set for no other reason than it’s high and you personally are motivated to achieve it, you will struggle in leadership roles. To his credit he identified it and has clearly worked on it, but it still worries me when I hear things like he doesn’t want to do media after losses.
That’s not accurate. What he said was he’s introverted and that’s how he leads
Merrett in 2023
“I think players respected a little bit the way I actually doubled down on the way I go about it and my strengths and not just folding to the pressure of connecting and being more caring and all those things that come with it.
And
“Growing up, I think I viewed leadership as being the extroverted kid who was a good speaker, whereas I was always introverted and just tried to be the hardest working player in any sport,” Merrett said.
“I feel like I’m challenging the norms of people’s beliefs at times, which is exciting. We’re seeing a number of players lead in different ways that have gone away from the traditional ‘male footy leader’.”
“I have a lot of small moments with individuals behind closed doors, I don’t like to be out the front or to embarrass teammates. I try to lead by example in doing the right things and not asking people to do things I’m not willing to,
Heppell in 2021, with Merrett back in the leadership group
"He’s able to drive tremendously high standards and sometimes that can eat away at him because he wants everyone to be at that level as well. He’s just so hungry for success. He’s managed to find that balance of understanding where guys are at and then helping them develop.
“He’s certainly played a big part in Darcy Parish and Andy McGrath’s development, so he’s been awesome in diving into that young core group of boys and helping them grow and develop.”
A more introverted personality, Merrett said staying true to his leadership style had been a key focus.
This has been posted on a couple of other treads, but it’s most relevant to this one.
I don’t often agree with Luke Hodge, but he was spot on here.
Tom Morris went with some faux breaking news that ‘he’s speaking with people at the club who believe the saga is still having an effect on the culture of the club’.
Hodge litterally just says: “well those people need to be sacked. These are the people who are holding Essendon back, and continually using these excuses for something that happened over 10 years ago.”
Couldn’t agree more. I often see supporters still using the saga as an excuse, with these rehash of the past that the club was performing really well before the Saga happened. The club was a basket case before the saga.
These are the people who are holding the club back and are responsible for the poor culture at the club.
It won’t happen, we’ve got Saga players in coaching positions and we’ve promised Heppell the same after his playing days.
Clean Air eh…
Oh, no. Please tell me this is not true. He would be a terrible coach
He wasn’t talking about players who went through it.
He was talking about the people using it as an excuse.
Well other than Heppell there’s no saga players, so it’s just the board & Dodoro who have been around since 2013.
So I agree, get rid of them.
