Demetriou Should be Sacked Now

[jnrmac 20,109]

Every major issue over the past 5 years he has had his head in the sand on.

1. Tanking. Denied it said it didn't happen. Refused to change the rules on PPicks. It happened for years.

2. Tribunal. Says its working perfectly,. Its the second biggest joke in the game.

3. GWS. Says it will be a great success. Meanwhile the stakeholders are pouring $100m into the expansion clubs.

4. Drugs in sport. Dale Lewis and others have been pilloried for speaking out. The three strikes policy is seen as a joke by every enforcement agency in the world. Players 'self-reporting' after a big weekend on the meth. Now the Essendrug scandal has him running for cover.

5. Players ducking in tackle. Doesn't happen according to Dimwit. West Coast have about 1000 more frees than any other club. The Selwoods are poster boys for head high free kicks. Meanwhile Carlton player Simon White fractures his neck on the weekend after ducking into a Box Hill player - 8 weeks in a neck brace. Haven't seen the Casey Tutungi video but that is two players in a few weeks - one is a quadriplegic. What will it take for Dimwit to act on this?

6. Diving. A blight on the game. The same serial offenders - Lindsay Thomas, Selwood x 3 etc. We know who they are. But Dimwit doesn't and won't do anything to stop them.

7. The compromised draw. The comp is ridiculously flawed through, blockbusters, indigenous rounds, heritage rounds, derby's etc etc. Until this is fixed the integrity of the competition is completely compromised.

8. Goal line technology - the process for a review is so bad its unbelievable. Dimwit has been dragged kicking and screaming into this debate and as bad as it is won't do anything about it.

9. The umpiring. I have some (not much mind you) sympathy here. The inconsistencies are atrocious. They deny till they are blue in the face that they have a 'rule of the week' yet blind freddy could see that. Witness Travis Cloke on the weekend. Coll Scum squeal to the umpires tribunal and Trav gets 5 ridiculous frees on the weekend.

10. For 12 years every rule change sped up the game for TV. He wouldn't listen to everyone that said "its like basketball". He would just point to the crowds and say" Aren't I the bees knees"

11. Jeff Geishen is killing the game yet he is allowed to run the umpiring department that is beyond a complete joke. The inconsistencies weekto week and then at finals time make watching unbearable. Let alone the fact that melbourne get the worst umpires week in week out because we a re a shiite team at the bottom of the ladder.

And now to top off all of that Dimwit is accused of tipping off the bombers about the ACC investigation into drugs and the Essendon pharmacological experiment. Wow. If true - and the Essendon management certainly looked shocked on the day - then his position is untenable.

He should be sacked and sacked now. he has done enough damage to our great game.

[rpfc 28,547]

Of those 12 reasons, I dismissed in my head about all but 2 or 3 of them.

Selwood diving in a tackle is The Bloated One's fault?

[Fat Tony 5,258]

Be careful what you wish for. A new Chief might not be as supportive to the MFC.

[jnrmac 20,109]

Of those 12 reasons, I dismissed in my head about all but 2 or 3 of them.

Selwood diving in a tackle is The Bloated One's fault?

So you think the custodian of our game doesn't have responsibility for players ducking their heads repeatedly? Your opinion I guess. Not mine though

[ThreeOneSix 954]

Demetriou just does what is best for the AFL, no harm in that.

Denies tanking, which helps us... Gives Essendon the heads up, which helps them.

He bails out all the big clubs if they are in strife and wants the MFC back as a power, there is no doubt about that.

Demetriou cares little for the clubs who shouldn't be in the league, ie: North and Bullies.

I think the bloke is a blessing.

[mjt 640]

Be careful what you wish for. A new Chief might not be as supportive to the MFC.

Theres certain simpletons here that just can't figure that out, great post.

[mjt 640]

So you think the custodian of our game doesn't have responsibility for players ducking their heads repeatedly? Your opinion I guess. Not mine though

GWS have been in the competition for under 2 seasons, bit early to call.

[deeflog 679]

I also think Vlad needs to step aside immediately, the of field side of the game apart from the finances is really starting to put some strain on the game in my eyes

[P-man 13,366]

Demetriou cares little for the clubs who shouldn't be in the league, ie: North

You mean the club he actually played for? 100+ games?

[angrydee 842]

Theres certain simpletons here that just can't figure that out, great post.

Have to agree

[ThreeOneSix 954]

You mean the club he actually played for? 100+ games?

Yeah, the same club he tried to move to Queensland, then Tassie.

[DeeSpencer 25,770]

1. Tanking. Yes tanking happened for years but here's the thing. Just because the PP is gone doesn't mean clubs wont continue to focus on next season and continue to try different things. See Mitch Clark out until next year and Jack Watts in the ruck. The AFL has now got itself in a another conumdrum about what to do with us this year and probably several other clubs over the next few years.

2. Tribunal. I saw the two incidents Corey McKernan lost a rising star (trip by hand) and a Brownlow (incident drop of knees to a players neck in an awkward marking contest) and I thought the tribunal will always be contentious. This tribunal throws up some bad anomalies - sling tackle >number of weeks than elbow to head. But the decisions are often explained in a straight forward manner and we now know with most incidents whether they will be reviewed and subjected to the points system or cleared. That's good enough to me. If a player gets 2 instead of 1 or 3 where 2 would've sat better I don't care. A numbers based mandatory sentencing system will always throw up some slightly out of whack penalties but almost every decision the match review panel has made this year has been consistent and reasonable. Yes the bump is all but dead but it's time we get over it. Tapscott this year for us has shown you can bump if you are very careful otherwise you are asking for trouble. If he can adjust I don't see why every other player in the comp can't.

3. GWS. Going to the moon cost a bit as well. So did going to Sydney the first time. If you want to be on Demonland the Soccer forum so we can debate whether we will beat Melbourne Heart that's great. But I want AFL to continue to grow and to stake its self as the national sport.

4. Drugs in sport. Firstly anyone who links recreational and performance enhances drugs like you have is a nutter. The league has acknowledge a recreational drug use problem and put in place a policy to fix it. If you want a zero tolerance policy to illicit drugs that fine but call for it properly and show me it will actually deter players. And show me it will influence the community because I doubt it will. I'd rather we be more open and less confidentially and give players who get 2 strikes a 4 week ban but I understand the AFL's policy created with EXPERTS.

5. Players ducking in tackle. I haven't seen the White incident but I doubt it happened ducking in a tackle. Ducking in a tackle usually results in a high tackle that 99/100 times results in no injury. Casey Tutungi got injured after picked the ball up he innocously ran into a players stomach. More like the Jake Spencer incident a few weeks ago where he got 3 weeks despite so little intent. The AFL are continually working to make the game safer so it's very harsh to criticise them for 2 freak injuries.

6. Diving. Firstly I don't think the Selwood's dive (besides maybe Adam). They duck and draw free kicks. The CEO of the league shouldn't review this but the Manager of footy ops (who is new) and umpires should wake up to it.

7. The compromised draw. This one I agree with you. But bare in mind to keep the comp strong we need to have some commercial advantages in the draw I believe. No body wants to watch GWS v Brisbane on a Friday night, the balance will hopefully be corrected not exaggerated. At least Demetriou has started the conversation on equalisation.

8. Goal line technology - It's early in it's existence. Tell me goal review is worse than Cricket DRS. It's not. 2 goal umpires might be better but what happens when they stuff up in grand finals? We need technology and we need patience. The rules of the goal review are simple, it's the umpires stuffing it at the moment and the lack of good TV angles which needs to be adressed

9. The umpiring. People have and will always continue to complain about the umpire. AFL is a crazily hard game to umpire, get over it.

10. For 12 years every rule change sped up the game for TV. The rules of the game committee were also trying to make the game more like it was intended to be played with one on one contests and quick ball movement. The game looks pretty good right now.

11. Jeff Geishen. See point 2 and 9.

My point I guess if you have raised some interesting topics but not all of them are broken I don't think. And a lot of them are for the new football operations manager in Mark Evans to fix. He comes from a strong footy background having worked at Hawthorn (and you guessed it) Melbourne. So I look forward to seeing what he can do.

If I was him I'd review the position of Jeff Geischen but he may well be the right man for the job, the umpires need help on ducking and diving but it's not a major problem. I'd continue working on goal line review and aim for mandatory goal line cameras in all games this finals series and look to make it all games next year. Then I'd look to review the match review panel to see if some simple changes can make the crime fit the time a bit better.

Now that we've got a TV deal for the next few years locked away I'd look to even the fixture out a bit for weaker Victorian clubs and keep working on equalisation.

My comments on the PED issue will wait and see the outcomes. Right now I'm glad Essendon players have Demetriou and the AFL on side. I hope the club isn't spared so easily.

[sue 9,107]

Be careful what you wish for. A new Chief might not be as supportive to the MFC.

Perhaps not. But that should not be a consideration in the wider interests of AFL. Sadly.

[Meggs 595]

Andrew has been very successful at improving financial outcomes for players (and for himself too). He has very strong convictions and has demonstrated leadership during his CEO tenure.

His is one of the most scrutinised positions going around. Not only does he have a board to review his performance, he has the media & the football public making daily comments. I am not sure that many on here would enjoy or be able to stand the scrutiny and maintain focus. Andrew does.

I believe players, their managers and club officials would likely have different views to that expressed in the OP.

[CBDees 3,167]

If we sack Demitriou [maybe for his alleged call to Evans] we should at least fine him $5Million first and claw back some of his massive renumeration which he has availed himself of whilst performing his duties such as representing the AFL at the London Olympics.

[Dr. Gonzo 24,235]

The governance if the sport is turning me off the AFL something I thought could never happen. If it wasn't for my loyalty to the MFC I would have stopped attending/watching years ago with the odd exception.

[La Dee-vina Comedia 16,816]

Of those 12 reasons, I dismissed in my head about all but 2 or 3 of them.

Selwood diving in a tackle is The Bloated One's fault?

I think I dismissed all but one (Drugs in sport) and have a qualifier on a second - GWS. My view about GWS is that the AFL has made two mistakes. The first is that it should have moved into western Sydney at least 5 years earlier than it did. And secondly, it put in place a process for recruitment of players to make GWS competitive from the beginning but didn't realise that GWS management would choose to ignore any chance for early success.

[alias275 259]

Can I just say one quick thing. Not having a go at anyone, but I have bit my lip a fair few times when the whole 'GWS has failed' thing comes up.

I live in the Western suburbs of Sydney and have since 1989. I have been through hell and back supporting not only my club, but the great game in general. Was teased and constantly hammered in the 90's, but I lived with it.

I have played football for 2 clubs in Sydney, one in the early SFL days and still currently play for a Division 1 Sydney AFL club.

Since the AFL jumped on the GWS thing, we have had

• 4 of our main grounds completely redone and in tip top condition with all new surface, lighting and irrigation systems.
• We have a full structured and solid competition, with not only a website that is constantly updated with scores, but now we are also getting live stats taken down as well.
• The kids at school now have Aus Kick available (prior to that PE teachers didn't even know the game to teach it). My friends 8 year old daughter came home the other day and told us she wants to play AFL. This would have been unheard of prior to the AFL's move in Western Sydney.

I'm not having a go, but just try to think about all the little things that go on, before you all write off the GWS idea. There is a lot more to the community than just a team, they visit the schools, they spread the game and I couldn't be more proud of the great game in the city I live in.

I will also be attending the game next week at Skoda Stadium with a whole bunch of friends who have recently gotten into the game. For as long as I remember it would just be my old man and myself at the Swans games cheering on the Demons all by ourselves.

This has all changed since the AFL took interest into Western Sydney. It has truly made a huge difference and we constantly get new players to our club that have come over from Soccer and League. Those numbers increase every year.

[La Dee-vina Comedia 16,816]

Well said alias275.

[rpfc 28,547]

Further to what alias has said - I have plenty of chats to older Canberra footy fans who claim that prior to the Raiders rocking up - the local AFL league was better attended and more closely followed than the local rugby league offering.

You put a club in and suddenly the area is a convert as it makes ties to the area and makes the changes that alias alluded to like grounds being built to house your only national club and so forth.

We were always going to put a second club in Sydney.

I don't understand the animosity to it being set up.

Should the Swans be taken back to rot at Albert Park?

Because your equivalents back in the 80s probably argued for it...

[Machsy 2,858]

As far as GWS as a failure goes... Think how long it took the Sydney Swans to be taken seriously in the AFL.

That's potentially how long it will take for GWS to do the same.

These are the hoops you have to jump through when introducing a 2nd team into a hostile market, but once they are established and competitive, it will be worth it.

Only fools would have expected it to be a "success" this early on.

[jnrmac 20,109]

As far as GWS as a failure goes... Think how long it took the Sydney Swans to be taken seriously in the AFL.

That's potentially how long it will take for GWS to do the same.

These are the hoops you have to jump through when introducing a 2nd team into a hostile market, but once they are established and competitive, it will be worth it.

Only fools would have expected it to be a "success" this early on.

I don't know of any that expected GWS to be a success this early on. But given the investment in GWS you would think that the AFL would have planned it out better. For example, they gave them draft picks fully expecting GWS would trade some for proven starts. The AFL have been privately shocked that GWS stockpiled elite young talent at the expense of short term smashings. The GWS strategy of taking senior players like Power, Junior, Cornes, Brogan has some currency but ultimately has been a disaster on field.

And if the young players all leave because they are sick of getting smashed where will that leave the 18th team?

But my OP is more than GWS its about AD having his head in the sand on nearly every major issue that arises. They continually ignore the bleeding obvious because they refuse to admit they were wrong - on anything.

The Simon White neck fracture was because he ducked into a tackle - There has been debate about ducking for well over 12 months and it requires IMO a head office solution before we see a spate of quadriplegics. Let alone the unfairness of the West Coast free kick situation. They ignore these things for months and even years until the opposition is so loud they have to do something.

For years they ignored the supporter complaints about speeding up the game. All because the TV networks wanted faster and faster play. Now they are trying to slow it down. They have been dragged kicking and screaming into the debate rather than lead.

ADs time is up

[Machsy 2,858]

Are you sure that the AFL is "privately shocked" that GWS stockpiled young talent?

I wouldn't be surprised if the AFL were outwardly projecting that image, but in fact are very pleased GWS will have excess talent ripening in coming years.

Other AFL teams would have objected if this was what they expected, but I don't think the AFL cares, as long as the Giants are successful in the long term.

The outlay was always going to be massive, but the longer the AFL waited, the harder it'd have been.

I don't think it's a bad thing for the league.

Quite the contrary.

[Machsy 2,858]

Btw, I think your OP sucks, so I'm just commenting on GWS for now.

[nutbean 8,838]

The interesting part is that so much can be aimed at AD but nothing really sticks. I can name so many preposterous statements he has made and ridiculous notions that he asks us to swallow yet he is Mr Teflon. He will go on his own terms at his own time. Watch and see.