Nothing’s changed for 15 years why the ■■■■ would something change now.
What needs changing? Everything. From the board down.
Right.
But First - the CEO has to go. Look, the board wont all resign on mass.
We need to get the best possible CEO to restructure the club. He/She can then set up the impartial review team and this must be sourced externaly.
The CEO has to drive this, and the whole process must be from a disinterested perspective. (note that everyone in footy now has no idea how to use the word).
There can be no bias, or preconceived ideas. Just a 100% legitimate process/review.
I have no faith in the current CEO driving this - in fact he should resign immediately after sacking Worsfold.
2 Likes
It’s seems that after the saga we have so much remorse from what we did to the players we are incapable of making the appropriate decisions which can move us out of it. Our culture is apologetic, depressive and at the same time a sense we deserve to be handed something for our pain.
Looking back with 20/20 hindsight I think we can safely say we made many wrong decisions post 2016. Instead of going back to the well to make amends with those players we should have shipped 90% of them off.
Maybe kept 1 - Watson for a single year.
But in all, any player who was there as part of the saga, even those who were not banned should have been sold off to the highest bidder. Assistant coaches included.
We should have conducted a full rebuild, based around Goddard as the leader and captain, targeted a younger senior coach to come in and take over from Woosha in 2018/19 who spent 2017/18 as the head of player development and game strategy.
As an idea of how it could look (noting the value are not going to be accurate and clubs but it gives an idea)
At the end of 2016 we probably would have got:
We already went in with picks
- McGrath
- Ridley
- Begley
- Clarke
Picked up Green and Stewart via FA.
We would have added:
Pick 2 Taranto - Hooker
Pick 7 Scrimshaw - Hepp
Pick 10 Brodie - Hepp
Pick 16 Todd Marshall - Zaka
Pick 19 Tim English - Hurley
Couple of extra fourths to take some punts on players like Willie Rioli and Gowers as a FA.
2017 we would have got, Houlihan, Zerk, Guelfi as per our picks and
2017 First - Aaron Naughton - Hurley
2017 First - Lochie O’Brien - Myers and Colyer
2017 First - Darcy Fogarty - TBC
Then you add in Saad, Smith, Stringer too
We could have also chased Corey Enright to come across to join kelly as an onfield coach and potential chased Caracella, Joel Corey, Ratten as assistants.
Based on looking at a scenario like the above We should have used our picks to continue to build on the talent we had from 2015 and 2016 drafts, along with all we would have got for the other players.
But we are where we are. And the only way to fix it is to forget about the decisions of the past and be critical and objective about our future.
The problem is that because X was a part of the management in the saga (including one of the management happy to be sticking needles in himself) he is also a part of the problem now. He has as much remorse as the board and players.
1 Like
Sounds good in theory but clubs would have tried to bend us over badly on talent and we would been shafted with talk of invalidated contracts.
We also would have been painted as the bad guy for forcing out players who wanted to stay and negotiating hard on players that wanted to go.
It would have been the Ryder scenario diled up 100 times with clubs like Hawthorn offering 2nd and 3rd picks for quality players and getting everything they wanted with the full support of the AFL.
Going down that path would have, I suspect, ripped the club apart.
3 Likes
Rip the heart out of the club? Yeah no.
That’s fine. But then you can kiss Saad, Shiel, Stringer and Smith goodbye also.
Probably, but the point is we could have rebuilt, without this crap holding over us and kept the growth of 2016 upward.
It’s all academic though, as we didn’t and we are now in a ■■■■ spot.
You are assuming we had a heart to rip out.
some more ecent board members got in because the coteries ■■■■■■ it all up with their old essendon boys club.
1 Like
Yep. Also bad
1 Like
Let’s have a mini rebuild
trade ; zaharakis, myers and other senior players imo
After getting my emotional state into a civilised range, I have been looking at trying to deep dive into the core issues at the club and come up with a strategy that the club can pursue. That is what good leaders do and I sincerely hope that is what our leaders are currently doing, including players, coaches and administrators (including CEO).
There are a number of good posts in this thread which provide valuable insights into the issues that are impacting of club. The summary of core issues identified in this include include:
- Current coaching team is unable to coach a premiership team
- Playing list is not premiership material and several players should have been traded out
- Cultural issues exist within the team, being short term phenomenon based on recent decisions
- Club has had cultural issues over the last 15 years, demonstrated via lack of success
- CEO is not adept at addressing issues, whether it be personnel or cultural issues (as perceived)
Firstly in regards to culture, I don’t buy into our culture being continuously poor over the last 15 years. Genuine attempts were made to turn the losing status around over the years, including the acquisition of Bomber Thompson, Hird, the 3 S’s, Shiel and even Worsfold. Whether they were successful or not is another discussion altogether. The club has made significant attempts to turn things around though, rather than sit on their hands and muddle their way through quite like several other clubs. Unfortunately wrong strategies or strategic decisions can have devastating consequences as demonstrated via the saga. Is that culture or management ability?
I cannot accept that the club has had one continuous culture over 15 years when personnel has changed several times over. Leaders influence culture and we have had several over the years. Current culture is a separate discussion.
Whilst the above issues may be real (or not, dependent on your opinion), I question whether the above points are all relevant factors currently. In my opinion, if all of these factors were significantly true, we would be at the Carlton status of misery. Where we achieved a level of wins in 2018 similar to 2017 (when we played in finals) and showed glimpses of an ability to grow into a genuine finals team, that showed us it is not complete doom and gloom. Instead, the club has developed issues which currently significantly outweigh the positives. It needs to identify which factors causing issues are current and can be immediately influenced in the short term.
For those inside the club, I am sure they are well aware of (well, some of them anyway) as to what the current malaise is attributed to. The question is whether all leaders have the capability to call out the issues, stand up and take ownership of the problem and seek to fix it. This is where culture is truly put to the test. This is where the CEO and senior management will now earn their stripes for I do not believe the current on field performance largely sits with them. Their abilities will be demonstrated on how they hold people to account to fix it and if they don’t, are they strong enough to make some difficult decisions.
I have learnt over the years that leaders aren’t just those who are officially in leadership roles. In terms of the playing group, you don’t have to be a captain or part of the the leadership group to show leadership and be a positive part of the team dynamic. Someone needs to remind the players of this. Same applies to the coaching staff. Again, this is where off field leadership will need to hold people to account.
The unfortunate reality is that more negativity will continue to surround the club in the short term as the blame game ramps up and fingers are pointed in all sorts of directions. Again, this is where our leaders need to stand up. Take ownership. Show that they are hurting. Give the fans the message that are spending every waking minute trying to address the issues.
Fans (including blitz posters) should not need to do a mass social media campaign to show the club their angst, sadness and frustations. The club needs to acknowledge this beyond a one liner from the senior coach in the post match press conference. Show they have a plan, or at the very least show that they have identified the issues.
The key theme? Leadership. I am waiting for it.
1 Like
@Catherine_Lio is passionate about the club and a good asset. I’ve met her, and she’s a wonderful person. I doubt she stands for what’s happening. I’d also like to think the board have already met after last night. I certainly think theres members of that board who are there on “reputation” and surely someone externally needs to review the football club from the top down. Questions need to be asked.
If this current board wants any hell in hope of surviving, I’d assume something is already being put into place I’d be disappointed if it hasn’t
2 Likes
We have a cultural problem within the club.
I don’t think Heppell makes a good captain.
I actually think Devon Smith would make a good leader. Presents well, tough footballer, smart player, reads the game well. Shows leadership on the field not sure outside the game though but I’d think he would be ok.
Team selection has been very poor. Too not make any changes after a performance like that against GWS was disturbing. Ok Parsih, one change which he should have played rd 1 anyway is nothing.
Merrett should have been sent back to the 2’s he is underdone. Mutch should have come in against Saints.
Smack shoukdvhave been dropped not up to it. Doesn’t chase or tackle either if he doesn’t have the ball.
Zerk should have come in for Hurley aswell he is struggling big time. I would have kept playing Ridley aswell he will only improve.
Zaka shouldn’t be in the seniors either, he should play in the 2’s and earn his spot.
Choices with tough decisions need to be made. Clarko would not have gone in with that side this week. He plays kids who earn their spots not players who expect to just turn up. It’s a ruthless industry and if you don’t want to be out there performing your best week in week out you don’t get to play or coach.
1 Like
Expect to be disappointed it’s a boys club at Essendon.
1 Like
It’s been my experience that boards on the whole are pretty useless, both in business and football clubs. They don’t own the P&L in a company that’s the CEO, they don’t own the success of the football team that’s the coach/Football Manager. I wouldnt be expecting to much from our board members, there would be zero impact with a few changes at that level.
The CEO devises the company stategy and makes the key decisions on who is in the footy department. The people in the gun (outside of the playing group) should be Campbell, Worsfold and Richardson. But in the end it’s Campbell that makes the call on the others, the board need to ratify the coaching appt but they generally go with the CEOs view.
In terms of the playing group the senior experienced players need a rocket, if there are splinter groups because people have got the sads they need to be sat down and clearly told to get on board or play the rest of the year in the twos.
1 Like
Although we are in a bad situation, I feel like it’s not the end of the world. Thanks to Free agency, as we have seen over the last few years clubs can rise very quickly and come out of no where. Our list isn’t that old.
I think we could have some success over the next 5 years but obviously we would need to be more ruthless and take some risks such as:
- Appointing a young, modern coach
- Going hard for players that we need (E.g. inside mids)
- Trading senior players
- Delisting list cloggers
It was a result of how poor we were in the fitness department. Players were talking to players at other clubs and were stunned at the level of training they were doing, we were still training like it was the 90s/early 2000s.
When Bomber and Hird arrived at the club they gave the players a fitness test and half of the players were chucking up, when thay sort of test is done easily at other clubs.
We have been so far behind in so many things that it is impossible for us to catch up. Hell we still treat pre season matches like we did in the 90s
1 Like
Why would the enlist a review of their own positions?